By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

UNDERAGE drinking and micro-trafficking of illegal substances are on the rise, according to Bahamas National Drug Council Director Dr Novia T Carter-Lookie.

“Our major concerns are we’ve seen an increase in micro-trafficking, which is the sale and use of illegal substances in the country and even in terms of the use of alcohol by underage minors,” Dr Carter-Lookie said. “And so, what we’ve done is, we’ve developed a lot of programmes in our communities and in our schools to meet those needs. So, we’ve developed programmes that deal with not only just saying no to drugs, but we’ve strengthened skills against violence prevention, we’ve done some work with bullying prevention. And we’ve done a lot of work with anger and stress management.”

Dr Carter-Lookie’s comments to reporters came on the sidelines of the 2nd Annual Caribbean Youth Forum, which focused on drug use prevention. The event also included 13 English-speaking Caribbean countries that participated in discussions of prevention and illicit trading of drugs.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said there are “many cases” of drug addiction in The Bahamas. He noted that people are poly-drug users in some cases, meaning they abuse several substances.

He said officials are keeping an eye on the rise of fentanyl.

“Dr Allen clearly spoke about two or three individuals who died as a result of fentanyl,” he said. “Some of them were Bahamian students in the United States. But we need to sound the alarm here. Prevention is better than cure and we need to equip our young people with the tools necessary to say no to drugs.”

“We are going to be discussing fentanyl and the dangers of fentanyl and equip young people on how to go back to their respective communities and countries to address this issue with fentanyl that is now showing its ugly head in the Caribbean.”

Other illicit drugs that officials have seen in use are cocaine, methamphetamine, and the abuse of prescription drugs.