MARIJUANA USE AND CULTIVATION ON THE RISE

A noted rise in the cultivation and teen usage of marijuana in the
Bahamas is prompting government officials to begin surveys once again
in schools to find out how many youth are involved in the soliciting
of illegal drugs and drug abuse.

According to Deputy Director Designate of the Anti-Drug Secretariat
Terrance Fountain, studies in The Bahamas have shown that marijuana
is the drug of choice by far, for teenage senior high school youth ­
an issue he claims that has far reaching social implications far
beyond high school.

In a recent interview with The Bahama Journal Mr. Fountain said that
though The Bahamas has been regarded generally as a transit country
for illegal drugs, he added that the cultivation of marijuana in
recent times has gone up.

He said that this calls for great concern seeing that marijuana is
proven to be the most popular illegal drug for teenagers and young men.

"While the last school drug survey was done in 2002 I don't suspect
much would have changed in terms of experimentation with marijuana
which by far is the drug of choice within our schools and among our
young people," Mr. Fountain said.

He said that a high school drug survey is currently being organized
and prepared for the coming fall school semester as many young people
in schools are at risk to the drug.

Mr. Fountain who has specific responsibility for the National Drug
Observatory, the statistics research and information arm of the
Anti-Drug Secretariat, said that the issue of drug abuse cannot be
properly addressed until proper research is done on the topic.

He said that from the last school drug survey it was discovered that
between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of young people in The Bahamas
had experimented with marijuana at least once in their lifetime.

He said that even within the school arena, some populations of
students are more susceptible for marijuana use than others.

"We can't paint everyone with a broad brush, if this is a population
that is more susceptible than our activities and efforts need to be
directed towards that group.

"Not ignoring the others but putting the focus where the focus should
be. As it is right now, it is more amongst males and older male young
people," he said.

He added that the gender ratio of males to females going into The
College of the Bahamas is also directly related to this occurrence.

Mr. Fountain said that the need for more drug research in The Bahamas
is rising and added that his responsibility will be to supply
information needed by the government and various other organized bodies.

"There will be a need for indicators at the national level to give an
indication of where we (The Bahamas) are in our efforts in the fight
against drugs. And that will put us in a position where we can plan
more appropriately.

"We can assist the policy makers and it will put us in a position
where we can monitor and evaluate and determine how effective we (The
Bahamas) will be in the fight against drugs," Mr. Fountain said.

Mr. Fountain said that only when proper research is put into
perspective will officials see whether or not anti-drug efforts in
The Bahamas are assisting in the fight against illegal drugs.

He said that only then will the answers to many questions come such
as: "What is going on with our students? Are the anti-drug efforts
taking place in our schools bearing fruit? Is the proportion of
people who experiment with drugs for the first time up or down? What
proportion of those people who experiment will go on to continue to use drugs?"

Mr. Fountain said that one of the questions he asked the young people
in the past surveys was 'where do you get your information form?'

He said that from the responses, he found that the older young people
get, the more they learn about drugs from friends and get information
on drug use from the Internet and other sources.

"I think we have a long way to go with our respect to our educational
efforts on drug abuse. We need to be more specific with the message
and segment that message to everyone who needs to get it.

This has to be supported by laws and policies Mr. Fountain added.

He added that he is pleased with the fight against illegal drugs in
recent times in The Bahamas and said that drug seizures are an
indication of the in-country effort to fight illegal drugs.

Just last week law enforcement in Grand Bahama seized over $2 million
from a Grand Bahama construction worker.

The man was taken into custody after being found in possession of
more than $2.3 million dollars in cash, police reported Thursday.

The 50-year-old man of Haitian origin was placed under arrest from
last Monday. That's when police allegedly found him in possession of
$2,378,213 dollars in cash ­ all but $18,495 in U.S. currency,
according to Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Hulan Hanna.

Officers from the Central Detective and Drug Enforcement Units
arrived at the man's #2 Royal Palm Apartment, located on Fortune
Drive in Freeport, around 9 pm Monday, he said.

Officers were alerted to the scene after someone tripped an alarm at
the complex Mr. Hanna said.