THE UNITED Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is to fund a project to look at the impact of the cocaine trade on small seaside villages in Jamaica.
The study will be conducted by the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) and is aimed at "deepening the agency's understanding about the effects of the problem on the residents of those communities and aid in the planning of more effective targeted prevention interventions."
NCDA's executive director, Michael Tucker, expressed pleasure that the agency's project was selected for funding.
"The project is a small one that provides an opportunity for us to do valuable work at the community level," he said.
The NCDA submitted Jamaica's project to a UNODC panel as part of a regional search for projects to which a focus group methodology could be applied.
Work on the project will begin in September of this year with UNODC also funding the training preparatory to the implementation of the project.
The sessions will take place in Jamaica between August 11-13, and will include local participants as well as others from Grenada, Barbados and St. Kitts-Nevis.
Training facilitators include Fae Ellington, media and communication specialist. and Dr. Patrick Prince, psychologist of St. Kitts-Nevis.
