The National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA), will release the findings of the 2019 Barbados Drug Information Network (BARDIN) report on Wednesday, August 18, at 10:00 a.m. during a virtual meeting.
Minister of Home Affairs, Information, and Public Affairs, Wilfred Abrahams, will deliver remarks at the start of that meeting, while a presentation on the key findings from the report will be done by the NCSA Research Department.
This report includes information from nine agencies – the Edna Nicholls Centre, the Psychiatric Hospital, the Substance Abuse Foundation, the Centre for Counselling Addiction Support Alternatives, the Royal Barbados Police Force, the Barbados Prison Service, the NCSA, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit.
BARDIN was launched in 2005, and is the mechanism through which Barbados collects and disseminates information on the local drug situation. Its purpose is to ensure the availability of current and reliable data regarding drug use which can be used for trend analysis and for the planning, evaluation and management of drug control programmes.
Reports are published on an annual basis and include data on the prevention, treatment and supply reduction activities carried out across the island.
The first BARDIN report was published in 2012 and presented data on the activities of nine agencies during the period January 1 to December 31, 2011.
To date, nine reports have been published between 2011 and 2018.