The National Drug Abuse Prevention Unit and Crime Stoppers Dominica recently made a donation of “Truth About Drugs” booklets to five secondary schools in Dominica.
The Truth About Drugs Programme provides practical tools to give the youth solid facts which enable them to choose to lead drug-free lives all on their own.
The recipients of the drug education material are St. Mary’s Academy, St. Martin Secondary School, Goodwill Secondary School, Dominica Grammar School and Wesley High School.
Coordinator of the National Drug Abuse Prevention Unit, Ms. Jacinta Bannis, encouraged the students to commit themselves to be responsible adolescents with the vision of succeeding academically, socially and spiritually.
“By staying in school and having no desire for using and consuming alcohol and other drugs, you can lay claim to a bright future,” she stated.
She said The National Drug Abuse Prevention Unit stands committed to drug demand reduction in our schools and communities and added that the Unit has established strong links in our primary schools and would like to see a strengthening of that relationship with our secondary schools.
Crime Stoppers Dominica encouraged the students to make responsible decisions as it relates to drug abuse, citing the correlation between drug abuse and the committal of crime and highlighted the importance of the Truth About Drugs Programme to efforts aimed at crime prevention and reduction.
The National Drug Abuse Prevention Unit and Crime Stoppers Dominica expressed gratitude to the MV Freewinds for donating the booklets.
The MV Freewinds has, over the years, provided community service to Dominica in many ways.
We need to include and address the abuse of Alcohol, Tobacco and, Prescription Drugs too.
Steve Foerster:
I had no reason to doubt any of the literature provided for the schools warning students against drugs. It seemed proper to commend the people and organizations who were doing this and the schools involved.
I want to THANK YOU for providing information about MV Freewinds. I have looked at their website and am horrified. I wrongly assumed that MV Freewinds was a legitimate NGO organization and did not know it is part of Scientology which is indeed a “crazy” cult. It is a very dangerous and destructive cult.
I apologize to DNO, its readers, and all concerned.
At the same time I wish to again express appreciation to every sincere person and bona fide organization
that is engaged in the battle against drugs. I encourage you to be careful who you associate with in this work because being identified with the wrong parties can be detrimental to your cause. The so-called Church of Scientology would be using you.
Again Steve I thank you!
Sincerely, Rev…
I just hope someone medically knowledgeable actually reviewed this information before it was handed out to impressionable young minds. Too often anti-drug materials refer to ganja and hard drugs in equally dire terms. That’s dangerous, because when young people smoke ganja and experience no ill effects, they often figure all the rest of what they were told about drugs was also overblown and therefore don’t fear genuinely destructive drugs like cocaine, meth, and heroin.
Also, this information should be especially carefully reviewed because the real mission of the MV Freewinds is to promote “Scientology”, a crazy cult: http://www.freewinds.org
Steve, you sound like a committed pot smoker. Just don’t drive after sucking on a big splif.
I actually don’t smoke it. But you don’t have to smoke it to understand that prohibition causes a lot more harm than ganja itself ever could.
People who smoke the weed often don’t like to admit marijuana is part and parcel of the drug trade.
Many people today who use heroine, cocaine, and meth first used marijuana. It gave them a very enjoyable “high” and they experienced “no ill effects”. This is the very reason they were
comfortable to move on and try these harder drugs, and why some of them are now addicted.
Marijuana is guilty by association. Many people who sell heroine, cocaine, and meth also sell marijuana. It is part of their inventory. When police do a drug bust they frequently find marijuana for sale along with the hard drugs, and these people often sell guns as well.
People who go on a serial binge of violent crime are often found to b high on marijuana.
Any proper warning to young people about drugs must include cautioning them against ganja.
Without crossing that threshold many of hem will not enter world of drugs. Besides it is better for them to be kept out of that atmosphere.
You sound like a straight edged know it all who has never experienced but only read or heard about things. “dont drive after sucking on a big spliff”, he says. Why dont you go drink your rum in a corner and be quiet sheep. I agree with Steve. they should also teach about the uses of these drugs like opium and cocaine in everyday medicines and drugs. As well as the make up of synthetics like lsd and extasy and their effects on the human body. these books are are scare tactics aimed at frightening the youth with hopes that they never use. So far they have been failing.
I’m surprised not to find Convent High included in this list. This is an excellent initiative and should be expanded to all students in secondary education. I would also recommend that all students are provided with a copy of our constitution when they enter secondary school. These are the rules that guide all citizens and are the basis for that often misaligned concept of nation building.