Cops raise alarm over students’ pill parties
... Drugs also being hidden in resealed snacks
Published:Thursday | April 7, 2022 | 12:06 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
Students have been finding more creative ways to sneak contraband into schools to satisfy their urges for drugs and foster other illegal activities.
Among the latest trends is a practice of opening bags of snacks, loading them with contraband and drugs then resealing them to avoid detection by school administrators.
This was highlighted in a workshop held by the St Catherine South Police Division at the Greater Portmore Police Station on Tuesday as they raised the alarm over several issues affecting schools, including an alarming rate of drug use, gambling practices, extortion, sexual activities, teen domestic violence, and the genesis of gangs.
“What we are seeing and the trends that we have observed in our schools in terms of contraband and drugs is what is known as the ganja cakes, the drops and the alcohol-infused gummies,” Detective Corporal Damian Hammond, Safe Schools coordinator for the division, told principals, teachers, guidance counsellors, and deans of discipline from more than 25 schools in Portmore.
He also pointed to the students’ increasing use of a party drug called molly, a popular rave drug used at nightclubs and music festivals that is of serious concern to law enforcement.
“There is an emerging drug outside of the school community known as ‘molly’, and some of our students are attending what is called ‘pill parties’. This is new because formerly you would hear about ecstasy as a party drug,” Hammond said, adding that law enforcement was on top of the situation and that the police were currently mulling over strategies to combat this practice.
The cops will also be moving to educate students so that they will be able to identify these and know what to consume and what to abstain from.
St Catherine South Police Divisional Commander Senior Superintendent Christopher Phillips, who is also a former educator, said it was imperative that schools be on the cutting edge and be able to identify these trends.
He noted that today’s classroom is a tough environment, adding that given all the changes in technology and the things students are now being exposed to, there is a need to lend assistance to the schools.
He noted that with the majority of students being out of the physical classrooms for roughly two years due to the pandemic, there were myriad issues to contend with.
“You have returning to your classrooms students who are abused, lost loved ones, working students. ... You have students who got themselves involved in lottery scamming and [are] carrying out some of the gang activities in some of the communities returning to the classroom,” Phillips said, noting that having the students return to schools without resocialisation could spell disaster.
He suggested that the Ministry of Education develop a special programme to resocialise students.
In making designated police personnel available to respond to school crises, Phillips read a list of school resource officers in the different school communities in Portmore.