Pubdate: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 Source: Sun St. Kitts and Nevis (Antigua) Copyright: 2007 SUN Printing & Publishing LTD Contact: http://sunstkitts.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4295 SKN REPRESENTED AT DRUG TRENDS, POLICIES MEETING Two officers of the Royal St. Christopher/Nevis Police Force are currently in Grenada participating in a meeting/workshop designed to review recent drug-use studies while strengthening the abilities of "drug demand reduction practitioners" to effectively implement and maintaining drug prevention programmes. Acting Commissioner of Police in the Royal Federation Stafford Liburd confirmed that Sergeant Leah Phipps, who is attached to the Drug Unit and Inspector Lyndon David, local co-ordinator of the Drug Awareness Resistance Education (DARE) Programme, are representing the Federation at the meeting. The two join their community/school drug use prevention counterparts from the Caribbean OAS member states as well as Caricom member and associate states. The five-day two-phase meeting, which has been convened by and agency of the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat is for "Caribbean national drug observatories which measure and analyse information on drug use, drug prevention policy makers from the region and drug demand reduction practitioners who work directly with populations at risk." During the first phase of the event which began yesterday, policy makers will discuss just how research findings on drug use can be put to practical use in order to develop sound public policies that discourage drug use. Discussions on findings on drug use and related issued which have been derived from national studies in the Caribbean, undertaken and supported by CICAD and other institutions, will also take place during the first phase of the meeting. The second phase of the event which will take the form of a workshop begins on 13 Sept., and will focus on strengthening the capacities of drug demand reduction practitioners to carry out effective drug prevention programmes. The main objectives of the meeting and the workshop, as outlines in a press release issued by the Organization of American States, "are to present and discuss the findings of recent drug use studies, sensitise those who work in drug prevention and treatment policy to the need to use research-based evidence for the development of sound demand reduction programmes, and strengthen the capacity of drug demand reduction practitioners in the field to implement programmes for special populations." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom