Substance Abuse Advisory Council Secretariat to operate national drug information System
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Contact: Claudia Monlouis
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 – The Substance Abuse Advisory Council Secretariat- (SAACS) is on the verge of establishing a National Drug Information Network, also knows as NATDIN.
According to the institution, the entire project should come fully on stream in early 2009. Programme Coordinator with the Council Robert Huggins said the concept, when implemented, will fill a very glaring void by addressing the need for better data collection in that specific area.
“The National Drug Information Network is basically a tool that Saint Lucia can use to improve our performance in the Health Drug Policy, designing and implementation of responses and programmes, and evaluation of outcomes through the use of timely, valid, and reliable information. The network itself, for the purposes of this project, would be defined as a group of people representing themselves or an agency, collecting, analysing and disseminating information on drugs for the purpose of monitoring trends, developing policy and implementing appropriate programmes,” Mr. Huggins said.
He said the data will be accessible to relevant stakeholders and the wider public. Particularly for the purposes of updating trends, and patterns of illicit drug uses and substance abuse in Saint Lucia.
On Monday, November 04th a workshop was conducted at the Cultural Development Foundation (CDF), where a core group of stakeholders and collaborating agencies of the Substance Abuse Advisory Council Secretariat deliberated on the best way to roll out the initiative. The workshop was held in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Inter-American Drug control Commission (CICAD) and the CARICOM Secretariat.
NATDIN will be housed at the Substance Abuse Secretariat Headquarters. The initiative is being endorsed by the Ministry of Health, whose invested interest lies in ensuring that the scourge of drug abuse is addressed and eradicated. |
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