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Haiti - Health : Consumption of drugs in schools dramatically increasing
23/02/2015 10:12:31

According to the results of the 3rd survey on drug consumption in schools, conducted by the National Commission for the Fight Against Drugs (CONALD), it appears that consumption increased by over 50% between 2009 and 2014. Since 2005, illicit drug use in public and private schools has been continuously increasing. In 2014, the numbers have reached their highest level.

The survey, funded by the Canadian government and the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) was carried out from April to June 2014, in 48 public and private educational institutions in 33 different communes in the ten departments of the country, with 3,448 adolescents who responded to an anonymous questionnaire about their knowledge, use and on drug consumption frequency.

The survey was designed to provide detailed national and departmental estimates on the conduct and consequences of alcohol and drugs use.

Some figures :

The average age of onset of use such as marijuana and cocaine is around 14 years ;
Consumption among students who have already taken illegal drugs is 25% for boys and 22% girls ;
Cocaine use (3.2%) and marijuana (2.3%) rose, n 2009 it was 2.04% and 2.01% respectively;
Inhalants (6.4%) and crack (2.5%) are also on the rise, in 2009 they were 2.01% and 1.02%, respectively ;
Some decrease is recorded in alcohol and cigarettes use. However, alcohol has the highest rate with 31.45% ;
3.92% of the new students have used cigarettes, tranquilizers 3.79% and stimulants 3.93% ;
Only 10.8% of students believe that drinking alcohol is not, or not serious ;
60% of students believe that the consumption of illegal drugs is very serious.

"In Haiti, where there are no laws that prohibit the sale of alcohol and cigarettes to minors, where some young people use illicit psychotropic substances, the drug phenomenon should be taken seriously," underline the stakeholders who participated in the realization of this investigation.

For his part David Bazile, the Coordinator of the CONALD, says he will intervene to reduce this phenomenon by strengthening the knowledge of young people and by encouraging them to have responsible behavior.

HL/ HaitiLibre