The lack of facilities to test psychotropic drugs and the need for a national drug strategy, are among system deficiencies identified in the recent evaluation report on drug policies in Grenada.
The thirty-six page document was compiled by the Organisation of American States.
Although commended for its treatment and social integration programs that guarantee access without discrimination, Grenada’s drug control policies lack the required international standards.
One flaw pointed out in the report by the OAS, is the need for environmental protection measures in its policies and programs.
This, it added, if addressed, can reduce the illicit supply of drugs.
However Head of the Secretariat Dave Alexander says the measurement tool used, does not necessarily apply to Grenada./
“Because we produce small quantities of marijuana, it is not applicable in terms of impacting on our environment.”
A new and emerging concern is that of psychotropic drugs. However the drug control office says there are no testing measurements or trained personnel to address such.
“It talks about mechanisms to monitor the purity of drugs, we do not have the facilities to monitor and test for purity of drugs, so that is something we have to look at. There are a number of positives, but there are some negatives that we need to strengthen on.”
In addressing the lack of a National drug strategy, Alexander says the previous policy expired in 2018 and therefore they will be drafting a new document to address the concerns identified in the OAS report.
“There are some new challenges that are emerging: for example issue of new psychotropic services NPS, we would need to put systems in place to address that, of course we need to keep the issue of marijuana at the forefront. There have been calls for the legalization etc… we would need to strengthen Grenada’s position in that regard and to ensure that we do not falter in that particular area.”
The Royal Grenada Police Force’s efforts in the fight to prevent and decrease illicit crops and the production of drugs, was also commended.
