SKN REPRESENTED AT DRUG TRENDS, POLICIES MEETING

Two officers of the Royal St. Christopher/Nevis Police Force are
currently in Grenada participating in a meeting/workshop designed to
review recent drug-use studies while strengthening the abilities of
"drug demand reduction practitioners" to effectively implement and
maintaining drug prevention programmes.

Acting Commissioner of Police in the Royal Federation Stafford
Liburd confirmed that Sergeant Leah Phipps, who is attached to the
Drug Unit and Inspector Lyndon David, local co-ordinator of the Drug
Awareness Resistance Education (DARE) Programme, are
representing the Federation at the meeting.

The two join their community/school drug use prevention counterparts
from the Caribbean OAS member states as well as Caricom member and
associate states.

The five-day two-phase meeting, which has been convened by and
agency of the Organization of American States, the Inter-American
Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and the Caribbean Community
(Caricom) Secretariat is for "Caribbean national drug observatories
which measure and analyse information on drug use, drug prevention
policy makers from the region and drug demand reduction
practitioners who work directly with populations at risk."

During the first phase of the event which began yesterday, policy
makers will discuss just how research findings on drug use can be
put to practical use in order to develop sound public policies that
discourage drug use.

Discussions on findings on drug use and related issued which have
been derived from national studies in the Caribbean, undertaken and
supported by CICAD and other institutions, will also take place
during the first phase of the meeting.

The second phase of the event which will take the form of a workshop
begins on 13 Sept., and will focus on strengthening the capacities
of drug demand reduction practitioners to carry out effective drug
prevention programmes.

The main objectives of the meeting and the workshop, as outlines in
a press release issued by the Organization of American States, "are
to present and discuss the findings of recent drug use studies,
sensitise those who work in drug prevention and treatment policy to
the need to use research-based evidence for the development of
sound demand reduction programmes, and strengthen the capacity of
drug demand reduction practitioners in the field to implement
programmes for special populations."