AG - CHANGES COMING TO NCSA BOARD

Barbadians will witness for the first time, a recovering addict being
placed on the Board responsible for the National Council on Substance
Abuse (NCSA).

This information came from Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Home
Affairs Dale Marshall, as he spoke at a special NCSA function hosted
at the Savannah Hotel on Tuesday night, in recognition of the
International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug
Trafficking.

The AG publicly acknowledged the tireless work done by the NCSA in
Barbados. He, however, proposed "a few adjustments to the NCSA Board
aimed at aiding the Council to better achieve its mandate to promote
sustained action for positive change in the fight against substance
abuse and in the facilitation of drug education, prevention, and
drug-free lifestyles". A representative for the young in Barbados will
also be sitting on the Board as part of the changes, the AG said.

At the function, he also gave a special send-off to NCSA Deputy
Director, Ishmael Morris, who will retire from the Council, this Friday.

In recognition of the Councils efforts in spearheading the fight
against substance abuse, Marshall also pledged Government's continued
financial support of the agency. Government has been steadily
increasing its allocation to the Council and this year will be no
different. Approximately $2 million has been allocated to the Board,
as compared to $1.4 million, five years ago.

Meanwhile, NCSA Director, Tessa Chaderton-Shaw, in commenting on the
work of the NCSA, noted that a great deal of emphasis has been placed
on the research arm of the Council. Three important surveys were done
in the last year. These were the Primary Schools Survey, the Secondary
Schools Survey, and the first National Household Survey, the results
of which should be released later in the year.

"Research helps us to give a scientific basis to what we are doing.
You would have heard that we released the findings of the first
Primary Schools Survey among nine to 11-year-olds, where we learned
that their knowledge and awareness of drugs is very high. That they
are still using alcohol. One in two said they had taken alcohol at
some point in time in their lives," she stated.

"The results are satisfying, but it doesn't mean that we should become
complacent. We still have a lot of work to do, certainly in the area
of the sale and consumption of alcohol. We have a Liquor Licence Act
that is very outdated. It dates back to 1987. It doesn't reflect life
today, so we have a lot of loop holes there that need to be
strengthened," she observed.