A two-day training workshop on Early Warning Systems (EWS), in response to New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and other emerging drugs, is being held to assist local agencies in identifying and alerting the public of new NPS in use.
The workshop which began today and will conclude tomorrow, Wednesday, August 23, is being conducted by the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) in collaboration with the American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and the Government of Canada at the Horatio Cooke Auditorium, National Union of Public Workers Complex, Dalkeith Road, St. Michael.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and Information, Yvette Goddard, speaking on behalf of Minister Wilfred Abrahams, noted that the training workshop was timely given the slowly evolving use of NPS and other emerging drugs locally.
“…Most recently, our EWS has identified the presence of NPS in Barbados. While we have been making steady progress in our national response to these new drugs, this workshop will certainly enhance our capacity…
“Training sessions such as these are critical as they allow for increased knowledge and skills among EWS members which will translate into a stronger, more efficient system that can inform drug prevention initiatives, and guide policy and legislative frameworks on new and emerging drugs,” Ms. Goddard stated.
She stressed that New Psychoactive Substances which are a range of drugs that have been designed to mimic established illicit drugs, such as cannabis, cocaine, MDMA and LSD; are dangerous and pose a significant public health threat. These, she noted, often contain products not intended for human consumption, and their content and full effects are typically unknown.
The Permanent Secretary thanked CICAD for being a long-standing supporter of the island’s drug control efforts and for providing technical and financial support for various initiatives over the years.
Ms. Goddard also expressed thanks to the entities involved with funding the workshop and encouraged participants to make the most of the next two days. “Engage the presenters and expand your knowledge base in this ever-important area so that we, as a country, are better equipped to respond to the issue of NPS,” she stated.
CICAD’s Assistant Executive Secretary, Angela Crowdy, shared that EWS is an important tool, which formed part of the Security Resolution presented and approved by the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly earlier this year. She noted that the OAS encourages member states to strengthen national drug surveillance and early warning systems in order to gather real-time information and respond quickly and effectively to the problem of new and emerging drugs which threaten public health and public safety.
Meanwhile, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Liaison Officer with the High Commission of Canada in Barbados, Hugo Boilard, revealed that the Government of Canada contributed CND $1.6 million to the Global Affairs Canada’s Anti-Crime Capacity Building Programme, which helps governments in the Americas, through CICAD.
This, he noted, would improve their capacity to work with each other and respond to emerging security and public health threats related to NPS, opiates and other emerging drugs. The EWS training workshop follows the launch of Barbados’ EWS back in 2019, and the first official EWS alert in March of this year.