Drug rehabilitation programs lacking
Representatives from law enforcement agencies, treatment and rehabilitation centers, education and the judiciary are meeting over the next three days to design and devise Belize’s first National Anti-Drug Plan. According to Jules Vasquez, the chairman of the National Drug Abuse Control Council, NDACC, the plan will set guidelines and policies.
Jules Vasquez, Chairperson, NDACC
“So what this first ever drug plan hopes to do and this first ever drug consultation hopes to do is create a document with achievable verifiable results in which many agencies and all the departments of government and of the society at large, including the media, will have certain responsibilities. And if they execute those responsibilities we will achieve certain verifiable results. Obviously you cannot eliminate drugs altogether, and you need to have an ultimate goal which is attainable. And we will make sure through this consultation that we set achievable goals.
Addiction is fundamentally a medical problem; something is medically wrong with you as well as in the mind. But first of all you need to deal with the addict’s need for the drug and we don’t even have anything like that right now; so that’s a critical area.
Treatment and rehab is in the worst situation because there are only two rehabilitation centers in Belize; two have closed down in the past year. Those centers do not meet what I think are or what the Drug Council believes are minimal standards. So the treatment and rehab have to figure out a way to rehab those people on the street who generally want a second chance at a clean, healthy and sane life.”
Consultants from the Inter-american Drug Control Commission based in Washington are facilitating the workshop. In a recent NDACC newsletter, the organization is warning women about date rape drugs. It is suspected that certain sedatives and anesthetic agents are being used in Belize to incapacitate victims in order to sexually abuse them.
