By Michron Robinson
Education on substance abuse at all levels of society is critical. That’s according to Minister of Home Affairs and Information Wilfred Abrahams who was speaking to Barbados TODAY after a special church service on Sunday marking the start of Drug Awareness Month at the Church of the Nazarene at Collymore Rock.
He noted that because people don’t understand the effects of substance abuse, its troubling nature is downplayed. “Unless people are educated on what to look for, they may dismiss it as something else. We need to advise and educate ourselves. We need to spot substance abuse in our families, in our communities and even teachers need to spot it in schools… and from as young an age as possible. A lot of Bajans think it is cool to smoke weed, to sneak a drink, to smoke cigarettes, but our children need to be given the information [so they] understand the dangers of it,” he urged.
While recalling that the majority of persons impacted by substance abuse are males, the Minister of Home Affairs said the NCSA will be working towards spreading the word.
“This is the month that the NCSA is focusing on getting the message out, across to the people. Nine out of ten people who have substance abuse problems are males. That’s a reality we cannot escape. During this month – look out we will put a lot of information out there,” he promised.
The Minister added that the Christian church has an important role to play in wrestling Barbados’ crime problem to the ground. “One of the greatest social organisations is the church, historically and in Barbadian culture, most of us have come up in the church, we get our grounding in the church, we learn our ethics and our values from our grandparents and the church. I believe the church has a significant role to play in the fight against substance abuse,” he said.
Pastor of the Church of the Nazarene Reverend David Holder promised his church would do more to help those with drug abuse. “Our gospel is about changing lives. The church now has to get more involved in the community. We need to get out and that is one of the things we intend to do at Collymore Rock – help them through the gospel,” Holder said. (MR)
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