(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Regional and international stakeholders attending the opening ceremony of the high-level Drug Treatment Court training workshop in Montego Bay, Jamaica yesterday (Wednesday, 2 February) gave their full support to the establishment of Drug Treatment Courts (DTCs) within the Caribbean Community.

The training intervention, titled How to establish and consolidate Drug Treatment Courts in the Caribbean, a Team Effort, was organized in collaboration with the Caribbean Community Secretariat, by the Organization of the American States (OAS), through the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the Secretariat for Multidimensional Security, and funded by the Government of Canada and the 9th European Development Fund.

The joint initiative forms part of the Caribbean Drug Treatment Court Project to help curb substance abuse and its social consequences in the Caribbean and reduce repeat offenses among persons addicted to drugs, by developing and implementing policies that promote alternatives to imprisonment for drug dependent offenders.

A slate of speakers at the ceremony endorsed Drug Treatment Courts (DTCs) as a workable alternative in easing the social and economic burdens of countries and reducing the backlog of cases that often clog the court system in many countries.

Leading the charge of speakers was Jamaica’s Chief Justice Zaila McCalla who asserted that DTC’s did not only provide a second chance for persons addicted to drugs who were determined to change their lifestyle but served to assist in the fight to reduce crime and violence and to reduce the backlog of cases in the courts. Pointing to what she described as ‘monumental changes’ in the lives of participants of the two DTC’s in Jamaica, the Chief Justice of Jamaica made a strong call for the establishment of more DTCs in her country and for more resources to strengthen the existing ones.

Ambassador James F. Mack, Executive Secretary of CICAD, agreed that DTCs were one means of addressing drug addiction and crime in communities, countries and the hemisphere. He expressed his organisation’s commitment to working with at least five CARICOM and four other Latin American countries in strengthening their DTCs, conceding that while drug treatment courts were not the magic bullet that would help all drug-dependent offenders, for some, they offered a way out of the cycle of drugs and crime.

Miss Myrna Bernard, Officer in Charge of the Human and Social Development Directorate in the CARICOM Secretariat stated that the negative social and economic impact of drug related crimes on the Community was a major cause for concern among Heads of Government.

She also expressed concern about the growing population of young people within CARICOM who were affected by substance abuse and agreed that “the paradigm shift away from routine imprisonment of drug offenders, to alternatives offered through drug courts should be considered, given the successes reported with this strategy.”

Ms Bernard further noted that the cultural dimension should be considered in establishing drug courts viewed this as an opportunity for strengthening functional cooperation among Member States.

The training workshop is being fully supported by the Government of Jamaica through the Ministries of Justice and Health and the National Council for Drug Abuse.

In this regard, Chief Parliamentary Counsel in the Ministry of Justice, Mr Albert Edwards who represented Jamaica’s Minister of Justice, Senator the Honourable Dorothy Lightbourne noted that the increasing incidence of drug abuse had caused more serious crime and social consequences in Jamaica, as abusers sought more creative ways to fund their addiction. Those social consequences, he stated, had placed a strain on Jamaica’s civil and criminal justice system. It was in recognition of this, he said, that Jamaica had established two DTCs as well as treatment and rehabilitation programs to complement the work of the drug courts.

In addition, Deputy Chairman of NCDA in pledging the Council’s support to DTCs asserted that the archaic approach of incarceration has proved in many instances to be counter-productive in producing hardened criminals with its attendant consequences and called on the Jamaica Government to appreciate the importance of DTCs “not just as a social tool in enhancing civility in the society but as an economic tool that could influence the country’s development.”

The workshop continues until Saturday. Its participants include judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, treatment providers, and probation officers from Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

The facilitators for this high-level conference include DTC experts from Canada, who will be supported by experts from the Ministry of Justice, Jamaica (through the Office of the Chief Justice); the Ministry of Health, Jamaica (through the National Council on Drug Addiction (NCDA)); the Canadian Association of Drug Treatment Courts (CADTC); the International Association of Drug Treatment Courts (IADTC) and the CARICOM Secretariat.