NCDA surveys drug use, violence in schools

By Kimone Witter

The National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) is analyzing the findings of a recent survey on issues affecting children in Grades seven to 12 which have led to drug use, violence and suicidal thoughts.

The Special Global School-based Health Survey, completed last month, was conducted in 23 high schools in St Catherine.

Uki Atkinson, research analyst at the NCDA, told Radio Jamaica News that the findings should provide more data on the prevalence and patterns of use of the psychoactive substance, MDMA, or Molly, among Jamaican students.

Those findings should be made public in a few months, she said.

Ms Atkinson explained that St Catherine schools were selected for participation in the survey, on the basis of the “secondary cities” principles, which compensates for the the fact that most such interventions tend to focus on the capital city of each participating country.

“The rationale is that the primary city – which (in the case of Jamaica) would be Kingston & St. Andrew – receives most of the intervention, most of the support; everything is centred here, so the World Health Organization wanted to provide support in cities where less attention is paid.”