Six years after the establishment of the Drug Court to rehabilitate non-violent drug offenders, the programme is yet to expand beyond its pilot phase due to a lack of funding.

In 2001, the ministries of Health and Justice established the programme in the Corporate Area and Montego Bay, St. James. Parliament during the same year passed the Drug Court (Treatment and Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act to give legislative backing to the initiative.

Carol Palmer, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, said on Tuesday that a project document was being developed to widen the scope of the project through increased financing.

Speaking at a signing ceremony at the Justice Ministry's Oxford Road offices, where 9,200 standardised urine test kits were presented to the Drug Court Rehabilitation programme, Mrs. Palmer said the prevention and control of substance abuse remained a high priority for the Government.

Suspended sentences

Drug abusers who commit non-violent crimes are awarded suspended sentences if they opt to participate in a drug rehabilitation exercise.

Dr. Myo Kyaw Oo, consultant psychiatrist in the Ministry of Health, said Jamaica's success rate under the programme was between 20 and 30 per cent, which was competitive internationally.

"That is very impressive in treatment of substance abuse, especially the out-patient programme," he told The Gleaner.

Repeat offenders or persons who commit violent crimes do not meet the criteria to participate in the programme and as such are dealt with by the criminal justice system.

However, Dr. Oo is proposing a drug rehabilitation project for the island's correctional centres to target hardened criminals.

Prescribed treatment under the Drug Court initiative includes random urinalysis testing for substances.

This test is demanded by the Court to determine if the offender remains in the programme or whether sentencing or trial should proceed.