CARE hands over position paper on cannabis and related issues to Dr Herminie’s office |25 May 2017
‘Our conscience is clear, we have done our part’
Yesterday the non-governmental organisation, Campaign for Awareness, Resilience and Education (Care) against alcohol and drug abuse handed over a position paper on cannabis and related issues to the Secretary of State for Prevention of Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation, Dr Patrick Herminie.
The representative of Care, Noella Gonthier, said in her presentation that “This position paper explains in detail what is cannabis, its medicinal value and its impact as a drug. We have also suggested some recommendations. Why are we presenting this paper: Because of the various talks happening in the country. The debates around this subject must be guided with proper information, not because we talk louder that the information is correct. Yes cannabis is a natural plant, but it is a drug. Care has done some surveys with the children and youth and all these are presented in this paper.”
Care’s chairperson Sarah René said that “Today is a very important day. I am also very happy that President Danny Faure decided to appoint a Secretary of State to fight this fight against drugs with us. For some time, we were alone in this battle and we had to fight against people and institutions. At Care we have realised that there is a lot of ignorance on cannabis. It is quite shocking to hear members of the National Assembly talking about cannabis without knowing the true specificity of the drugs and promoting the legalisation of this drug. This is really an irresponsible statement that will cause lots of damages in the society. It became very important for Care to distribute this paper so that all our leaders learn about this drug.”
Mrs René also specified that only Uruguay has legalised the production and sale of cannabis and some states of the USA.
“Here in Seychelles, we have decriminalise the use of cannabis in small quantity for a user, but legalisation is another level. The United Nations has already stated that cannabis is as dangerous as hard drugs. We have to be very careful. There are currently four types of forces pushing towards the legalisation: 1) ignorance; 2) traffickers; 3) strangers who want to have an influence in the country and the fourth one is egoist people who are thinking for their own good. With this paper, there is no excuse for people to say that they do not know about the danger of this drug. Our conscience is clear, we have done our part.”
Dr Herminie received the paper with thanks and congratulated Care for all its work it has done during the years.
“We sincerely believe in this fight as every day we are witnessing the damage caused by drugs. Normalisation of drugs abuse is worrying. Today it is a fact that more and more of our younger generation are abusing drugs and we all need to give a helping hand to change this culture. It is important for us to make the youth realise the importance of education and work. Today we see a lot of foreign workers and many of our young workers are unfortunately suck into drugs. If we continue in the same line, our nation will collapse. We have to stop giving long speeches and put our money where our mouth is. Let us build the proper facilities to rehabilitate the victims of drugs and give them the proper support. All this need the support of not only the government but as well as the society.”
Care came into being in the year 1996 and is dedicated to the provision of quality education and prevention services to children, youth, families and communities to promote drug-free, healthy life-choices and activities for all citizens of Seychelles.
Its role is to promote awareness among the public in general on the risks, both in the family and in the society as a whole implied with the use of drugs and alcohol; to conduct educational programmes in the media, in the schools and in the community; to support and provide help to any kind of efforts aimed at fighting drugs and alcohol abuse both in Seychelles and abroad by governments, non-governmental organisations, associations, agencies or individuals.
Has it been successful in its mission? Mrs René gave an affirmation to this. “Yes we have been able to sensitise the children in the schools. Since our existence, we have brought to the attention of the government the drug problem. If we were not in schools, there would have been more victims.”