RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

A drug known as Straw­ber­ry Quick, which re­sem­bles straw­ber­ry-flavoured pop rock can­dy has en­tered the Caribbean, and there are con­cerns that it may reach T&T.

Guyana’s Cus­toms An­ti-Nar­cotics Unit (CANU) is­sued a warn­ing last Fri­day, de­scrib­ing the straw­ber­ry drug as a form of metham­phet­a­mine, a pow­er­ful and high­ly ad­dic­tive stim­u­lant that can cause se­ri­ous harm to health.

The pres­ence of the drug cir­cu­lat­ed on What­sApp par­ent chats in Trinidad warn­ing of the dan­gers.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia, Na­tion­al Coun­cil of Par­ent Teacher As­so­ci­a­tion (NPTA) pres­i­dent Wal­ter Stew­art said he was not aware that the drug was present in T&T but said it still war­rants aware­ness.

“We have not heard, seen or read about this drug in our schools, and I am not aware of these al­le­ga­tions con­cern­ing this drug,” Stew­art said.

He added, “There needs to be aware­ness about the harm and dan­gers of drug us­age, and our par­ents must play a role in en­sur­ing that the chil­dren do not en­gage in drugs.”

Stew­art stat­ed that the NPTA will be em­bark­ing on an ed­u­ca­tion­al cam­paign.

“We are aware of the need for parental en­gage­ment with re­gard to bul­ly­ing, cy­ber­bul­ly­ing, and sui­ci­dal trends, and this will be placed on the agen­da as well to en­sure that stu­dents achieve their full po­ten­tial,” Stew­art said.

Mean­while, the pres­i­dent of the Con­cerned Par­ents Move­ment, Clarence Men­doza, said he was aware of metham­phet­a­mine drugs be­ing used in schools.

“Yes, I’m aware of it be­ing ex­per­i­ment­ed on by youths, and the Span­ish com­mu­ni­ty has been blamed for it. How­ev­er, it was around in schools in 2016-2017 but did not last. It was con­sid­ered Speed and uni­ver­si­ty stu­dents were the main users,” he said.

Men­doza urged all par­ents to have open con­ver­sa­tions with their chil­dren about the dan­gers of drug use and the risks of ac­cept­ing food or can­dy from un­known sources.

In a sto­ry car­ried by Kai­eteur News, Guyana’s CANU said the drug re­sem­bles straw­ber­ry-flavoured pop rock can­dy and is known for its dis­tinc­tive “siz­zling” and “pop­ping” ef­fect when in con­tact with the sali­va.

Be­cause of its can­dy-like look and smell, CANU said chil­dren may see the drug as a harm­less treat.

Guardian Me­dia al­so reached out to the pres­i­dent of the T&T Uni­fied Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion, Mar­tin Lum Kin, who said he was un­aware of the drug. Ques­tions were sent to Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly and we are await­ing her re­sponse.