The laboratory at the Forensic Sciences Centre is assisting the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) in identifying New Psychoactive Substances (NPS).
Speaking on the sidelines of a two-day training workshop on Early Warning Systems (EWS) in response to New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and other emerging drugs, which began today, Deputy Manager at the NCSA, Troy Wickham, and Director of the Forensic Sciences Centre, Cheryl Corbin, explained the role and importance of the Centre in carefully determining new NPS in use.
The Deputy Manager disclosed that investigations by the NCSA regarding the confirmation of new NPS, and other emerging drugs being used on the island, involve “submitting substances to the government Forensic Sciences Centre for testing so we can have some scientific evidence to support what we’re probably hearing anecdotally on the streets.”
He shared that this year, the use of Methylamphetamine was identified and notified via the EWS by Minister of Home Affairs and Information Wilfred Abrahams.
Signs of persons using Methylamphetamine can include paranoia, hallucinations, twitching, facial tics, jerky movements, nausea, and outbursts or mood swings. Mr. Wickham stressed that: “It (Methylamphetamine) can also lead to death, is something that’s very, very addictive [and] persons tend to binge use methamphetamine. So I want persons to be on the lookout for persons behaving what we call ‘strange’, abnormal, or what we normally see on the streets in Barbados.”
Ms. Corbin explained that the Centre followed standard scientific procedures when conducting the analysis of identifying NPS.
“It is very laborious, it has to be done in a particular way, we can’t rush the science. We are not going to rush the science because at the end of the day whatever information we provide, is going to be looked at as confirmation, which means that that information is also going to end up in a court if a person is charged with possession.
“You need to be able to know that there is a confidence level that you have to say, well, yes, this is really what it is. And it’s not just all talk or you just want to be inflammatory about things,” Ms. Corbin stated.
It is expected that Minister Abrahams will make an announcement soon as to whether there is currently another NPS in use on the island. The two-day EWS workshop is being held at the Horatio Cooke Auditorium, National Union of Public Workers Complex, Dalkeith Road, St Michael.