More than 2,000 teenage students on Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac took part in a drug use survey conducted by the National Drug Council.
A student completes the questionnaire. |
This comprehensive evaluation of public and private school pupils covers drug use and knowledge of alcohol, tobacco, ganja, inhalants, cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs, said a GIS press release.
‘But it also covers areas that influence behaviour, such as feelings regarding school and homework, their grades, self-confidence, health issues and awareness of other issues such as gang activity,’ NDC Coordinator Catherine Chesnut said.
She added because the survey is confidential, no names are taken. ‘While the survey is voluntary, we have been fortunate to have a 98-percent participation rate in the past. This is a full student census, and not just a sample survey. It covers the entire school population simultaneously. In order to make the students feel comfortable to answer honestly, no teachers or authority figures are present when the students take the survey.’
The questionnaires are broken down by school grade, sex and district, allowing a broad final overview, the release explained.
While it is normally conducted every two years, the last such drug census was held in 2002. The 2004 evaluation was not carried out because of the post-Ivan situation.
The findings sometimes indicate new and alarming trends. For instance, one finding of the 1998 census was that the drugs of choice were (in order of use): alcohol, tobacco, inhalants and ganja. As a result, new educational messages were developed to launch prevention programmes for the emerging inhalant abuse issue, in addition to the ongoing anti-drug messages, the release said.
However, the 2002 census data revealed that ganja use had climbed, with the most popular drugs now being alcohol (38 per cent of the students surveyed); ganja (9.5 per cent), inhalants (6.9 per cent) and tobacco (6.7 per cent). Additionally, the reported use of all other drugs measured 4.6 per cent.
Regardless of the results of last week’s comprehensive exercise, the collection of the data, and the subsequent use of these facts will provide an invaluable tool for professionals in the field, the release noted.
‘The logistics of conducting this were immense, but we have been fortunate to have much cooperation in the survey’s planning, participation and data analysis,’ Ms Chesnut said.
Expressing special appreciation for those who assisted in the process, she said that, initially, very few people responded to the NDC’s initial call for fieldwork assistants. ‘However, we then approached St. Matthew’s University, School of Medicine, which assisted in recruiting workers – with some 50 of their students volunteering to assist. They were then trained to administer the self-reported survey.’
She also thanked the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman and Baraud International for providing several fieldworkers.
‘The main benefit of the survey results is to inform policy decisions and to develop programmes aimed at reducing drug misuse, use and abuse. It is also useful for the broader public, because it gives direction for private and community-based anti-drug programmes,’ Mrs. Chesnut said.
The NDC director added that Cayman’s student drug census consists of standard prevalence measures, which allows for comparisons with the results of other countries. The information-gathering initiative included some locally-relevant questions, and Cayman’s student drug census is also the longest-running in the Caribbean.
As in past years, the NDC worked closely on the survey with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. The completed forms are shipped from Cayman to the Institute for Social Research at York University, where the data entry takes place.
The NDC, as well as CAMH, will then analyse the findings of the survey which are expected to be released by this summer.
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