(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Regional officials at a workshop on illicit drug trafficking in Saint Lucia have agreed that the time has come for public education initiatives to focus on all dimensions of the burgeoning drug trade and not just on those who misuse substance.

The Caribbean Community Secretariat, with support from the 9th EDF programme, commenced training of key stakeholders within the Eastern Caribbean States in developing and implementing effective public education and behaviour change communication strategies to target drug traffickers. The first of such interventions opened in Saint Lucia on Thursday, at the Bay Gardens Hotel.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the two-day workshop, CARICOM Secretariat’s Coordinator for the Regional Coordinating Unit for Drug Control programmes, Colonel Fairbairn Liverpool, explained that while it might be a challenging task to craft effective public education programmes to deal with drug traffickers, it was an imperative and therefore, a concerted effort had to be made to change the attitudes and behaviour of traffickers.

Colonel Liverpool said that for too long the focus had been on punitive measures for traffickers and preventive measures for users, but now it was clear that public education initiatives were necessary to complement or even make easier the work of the judicial system.

Endorsing the sentiments of the Colonel, Saint Lucia’s Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of crime, Mr Vernon Francois, said the Caribbean shared similar challenges in illicit drug use and trafficking and should therefore focus on common solutions. In his opinion, a common public education initiative should be effective in discouraging the use of and trafficking in illicit drugs among the region’s populace.

Mr Francois also pointed to a report that law enforcement officers Region-wide were also fingered in the illicit trade, and expressed hope that they too would benefit from such behaviour change and public education programmes.

Director of the Saint Lucia-based Turning Point Substance Abuse Advisory Council Secretariat, Mr Desmond Phillip also agreed that public education would be an effective weapon in the fight against illicit trafficking.

He highlighted a plethora of social problems which he stated were spin-offs from the illicit drug trade, lamenting that public servants were also being corrupted by the trade and argued that the response to such problems had to be the adaptation of preventive rather than punitive measures. “The scope of the narcotics problem cannot be ignored. Evidence of social consequences is everywhere and it is a crime that imposes a staggering burden on people and nations – one that no society can afford to carry,” he said.

Notwithstanding these problems, Mr Phillip hastened to encourage that despite the many challenges the Region should remain undaunted and continue to develop strategies in meeting head-on “this immobilising scourge.”

The opening ceremony was chaired by Saint Lucia Woman Police Constable Mary Anna Leonce who opined that in order to ‘nip the problem in the bud,’ the Region should target children at an early age through the formal education system.

The workshop is aimed at realising three objectives: provide a theoretical and conceptual framework on which to build effective public education campaigns; review regional trafficking trends and its implications for development in the Region; and, expose participants to initiatives and programmes implemented by Member States in addressing the problem of trafficking.

Contact: piu@caricom.org