NARCOTICS-BARBADOS: DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS COULD BE THE ANSWER

BRIDGETOWN, (June 22) IPS - The increase in the number of children involved
in the drug trade is causing serious concern in this small eastern Caribbean
island known among its neighbors for its conservatism.

More than 20 students were suspended from one secondary school recently for
not only using illegal drugs, but for selling them to classmates.

After one 15 year-old female student was found showing off a bag of
marijuana to her classmates, police began to take action. They found that a
thriving business in marijuana and cocaine was taking place right on the
school grounds.

"One is never happy to hear of these incidents, but to the extent that these
problems exist, we must ensure that we do our best to minimize or eradicate
them," says Minister of Education, Mia Mottley.

General Secretary of the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU), Patrick
Frost, says his organization is alarmed at the incidents.

"Once drugs exist in schools at all that means we have a serious problem.
You don't expect to deal with matters like this in schools where you go to
learn. But more and more we are dealing with societal problems (in the
schools)," he says.

The problem has reached such proportions that Frost says the authorities may
be forced to resort to drug testing when there is strong suspicion that a
student is involved in the drug trade.

Observers say, however, that the increase in the use of illegal drugs among
school children is a mere reflection of what is happening in the wider society.

Police reports indicate that for the first four months of this year, 408
persons were charged for illegal possession of drugs. This compares to 324
for the same period last year.

In one of its reports, the United Nations International Drug Control Program
estimated that 248 metric tons of cocaine enter the U.S. through the Central
and Eastern Caribbean each year.

This is about 40 percent of all the cocaine entering the U.S., up from 30
percent in the early 1990s.

Another 100 tons of cocaine leave South America through the Caribbean
corridor en route to Europe, while a third path transits the Caribbean at
the west side through Central America and converges at the Mexican border
for overland transit to the United States.

Altogether, 61.8 percent of all cocaine leaving Latin America transits
through the Caribbean corridor.

Apart from cocaine and marijuana, heroin is also prevalent in countries such
as Belize, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, St. Martin and Puerto Rico.

"This proved what had been suspected for some time -- the Caribbean corridor
is used as a transit zone for Latin American-produced heroin," stated one
report on illicit drug trafficking in the Caribbean region, issued by the
Caribbean office of the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP).

What the authorities are also examining is the fact that drug trafficking is
shifting from aircraft transportation to ships.

Traffickers are now relying more and more on non-commercial and commercial
shipping such as high speed boats, sailing and fishing vessels and
containerized cargo ships.

About 85 percent of the cocaine passing through the region and headed for
the U.S. is maritime, says the UNDCP Caribbean office.

With improved electronic devices, traffickers can now pinpoint waiting
vessels and air drop drugs with great accuracy, no longer having to openly
communicate as frequently as they did in the past, making the job of law
enforcement agencies more difficult.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett