The Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) will be collaborating with sectoral agencies, including the Ministry of Education, to tackle drug use in schools.
“We are working with the Ministry of Education and other agencies to sensitise and to develop a programme that allows us to go into various schools around the region to sensitize persons about the effects of narcotics,” Head of CANU, James Singh, told reporters on the sidelines of an event on Thursday.
“…It’s not only about working with the students but also working with the teachers. They must also be able to see the behavioural patterns of persons. That gives us a better idea if persons are on drugs or something else, so we can work with them also,” Singh added.
Singh said the agency has identified that there are several new types of drugs in society and they are working with various agencies, including the Joint Services, to deal with the issue.
He is urging members of the public to come forward if they have any information about trafficking in narcotics within the communities where they reside. “…If you know that persons are engaged in selling narcotics within your community, whether it’s close by a school, anywhere. Let us know confidentially and we will take the necessary action,” Singh said.
In the past, there were discoveries of ecstasy in schools.
In its 2018 annual report, CANU had said that it discovered the use of ecstasy in five schools.
“This situation certainly is very disturbing… it was established that most of the synthetic drugs are coming through the ports shared with Guyana’s eastern neighbour [Suriname] and the unit has been in collaboration with relevant counterparts to address this development,” then De-puty Head of CANU, Lesley Ramlall, had said in the report.
Statistics recently provided to this newspaper by Singh showed that for the first quarter of this year, CANU seized 49.2 kilogrammes of cocaine, 2,077 kilogrammes of cannabis, 1 kilogramme of cannabis seeds and 266 grammes of ecstasy.
As a result, a total of 39 persons were charged. Singh had said out of the cases made, 25 were linked to marijuana discoveries, 13 to cocaine finds and one for ecstasy.
Just last Saturday, CANU destroyed over $500 million worth of marijuana seized over the last year. The drugs were from matters that are no longer engaging the attention of the courts.
