Drugs among our children

By Dr. Ken-Garfield Douglas, Contributor

PERHAPS NO area is more clearly appropriate for the application of systematic research and reporting than the drug field, given its rapid rate of change, its importance for the well-being of the nation and the amount of legislative and administrative intervention addressed to it.

Young people are often at the leading edge of social change and this has been particularly true in the case of drug use. The reported increase in the use of licit and illicit drugs during the last 10 years in Jamaica has proven to be primarily a youth phenomenon, with onset of use most likely to occur soon after primary schooling.

The literature is replete with evidence to suggest that the onset of tobacco and alcohol use occurs primarily in early adolescence. Currently, very few people begin to use alcohol and tobacco as adults ­ almost all first use has occurred by the time people graduate from high school.

The evidence also suggests that, until alcohol or tobacco is used first, there is very little progression to other drug use ­ tobacco and alcohol are essentially "gateway drugs".

Over the past two decades, growing evidence has emerged which suggests that cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana can act as "gateways" in a demonstrated progression to the use of other illicit drugs like cocaine (crack cocaine included). Early use of these substances by children may in fact be an important marker for the use of other drugs and may be a predictor of future abuse or addiction. The implication is clear that to reduce alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, prevention should focus on delaying the onset of tobacco and alcohol use.

One of the major purposes of this research was to develop an accurate picture of the current drug use situation and trends. Having a reasonably accurate current assessment of the basic magnitude of the problem of illicit drug use among Jamaican students is a prerequisite for policy making. In the absence of reliable data on trends, early detection and localisation of emerging problems are more difficult and assessment of the impact of major historical and policy-induced events are much more speculative.

Dr. Ken-Garfield Douglas of the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in Trinidad & Tobago, conducted in 1997 a national school survey on the drug use among children. The study was titled "Patterns of substance use and abuse among post-primary students". He presented a summary of his findings at the recently-held Mona Academic Conference, held at the University of the West Indies.

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