'Alcohol, ganja preferred drug for students'

ST GEORGE'S (CMC):

A survey on the use of drugs by secondary schoolchildren in Grenada has found that alcohol and marijuana were among the main substances of choice for students and that almost a third would try a substance if given the opportunity.

Overall, the substance of choice with secondary school students is alcohol (72 per cent), followed by cigarettes (27 per cent), marijuana (20 per cent) and inhalants and solvents (16 per cent). Fewer than 10 per cent of students reported using other substances.

The report on the third 'Secondary School Drug Prevalence Survey' was released on Wednesday.

The survey involved 1,493 second-, third-, fourth- and five-form students in Grenada, and was carried out in April last year. It involved 17 secondary schools selected randomly from the public and private sectors.

In her report, Dr Cecila Hegamin-Young, professor in the Department of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at St George's University, noted that the objective of the survey was to determine the prevalence and incidence of drug use among secondary-school students in Grenada.

It was also intended to establish comparisons with the results of the first and second secondary-school drug-prevalence surveys conducted in 2002 and 2005 as a means of informing policymakers of changes in prevalence and incidence and new findings.