Police suspect drug use at PC, take drug fight to schools

The Narcotics Branch of the Guyana Police Force held a sensitization session with students of President’s College on the dangers of drug use after suspecting that students are involved in the illegal act.

The Police Force has since launched a programme where they will now visit several schools aimed at steering high school students away from the harmful substances through sensitisation.

The programme is titled ‘Don’t get involved in drugs’ and is a collaboration between the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the Ministry of Education to engage local high schools on the harmful effects of drug use.

As a result of this initiative, a recent visit was made to President’s College by the CID Anti-Narcotics Division and representatives from the Education Ministry.

“As recent as [Saturday] we in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and CANU visited the President’s College where we interacted with two hundred(200) odd students because it was believed that maybe drug use is taking place in President’s College,” Superintendent of the CID Anti-Narcotics Branch, Kurleigh Simon told the media Sunday.

Ranks will be visiting schools across Guyana.

“As part of our ‘demand reduction strategy,’ we have 25 ranks from across the Guyana Police Force on training to service to the ‘Drug Reduction Education Awareness Programme.’

“Those ranks will go back to their respective divisions and be responsible for going to schools across the regions,” Superintendent Simon said.

He said the aim is to minimise the use and distribution of drugs within schools.

According to Simon, the trained ranks will be responsible for policing and monitoring their assigned schools on a weekly or monthly basis while conducting training programmes with students and teachers.

The News Room understands that the ranks will be equipped and prepared to effectively function as a deterrent to drug use and distribution as well as a source of inspiration for young students who will positively benefit from being educated about the harmful effects of drug use.

The training is expected to be done in collaboration with the Public Health and Education Ministries.