Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Grenada to assist Barbados in setting up of Drug Information Network


St. George’s Grenada, Tuesday November 1, 2011, MOEPRU –  Grenada has been chosen to provide technical assistance to the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA), Barbados, on the establishment of the Barbados Drug Information Network BARDIN.

This, coming out of a recent training workshop conducted by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (OAS/CICAD), for BARDIN Stakeholders, at which Drug Control Officer Dave Alexander was a co-facilitator.

Alexander was invited by CICAD to co-facilitate the workshop, based on his experiences in the establishment of the Grenada Drug Information Network (GRENDIN), in 2002.  GRENDIN is being used by CICAD as a model for establishment of similar Networks in the Caribbean.

Officials from Government Institutions and NGO's involved in drug control initiatives, such as the Judiciary, Law Enforcement, Health, Education and Community Development in Barbados participated in the workshop. Two Officials from Trinidad and Tobago, and one from St. George’s University, also attended.

Mr. Francis Mc. Barnette, OAS Representative, Barbados, delivered remarks at the commencement of the workshop and in his remarks, complimented Grenada as having the best organized and most efficient drug information network in the Caribbean as well as its successful participation in the Multilateral Evaluation mechanism (MEM).

In his presentation, Alexander shared the ‘Grenada Experience’ regarding the establishment of the Grenada Drug Information Network (GRENDIN), its successes and challenges.  He also provided examples of information generated from Information Networks.

Alexander also assisted the four working groups established to formulate plans for the establishment of BARDIN, which focused on organization of participants by sector (Law enforcement, Prevention, Treatment, and Research), review of indicators by sector, development or review of data forms, development of a data collection and reporting plan and reports, publications and other outputs.

As a follow-up Alexander will now provide technical assistance toward the establishment of BARDIN.

SOURCE: Wendy Chasteau, Ministry of Education



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