On last week Thursday's newscast, we showed you part 2 of Courtney Weatherburne's investigation into the life of recovering alcoholics. These are Belizeans who fight the urge every second of every day to stay away from drinking, due to the very harmful effects it has had on their personal lives, and their relationships with family members.
Local law enforcement and health authorities continue grapple with the seemingly impossible task of reversing the culture of excess. At the same time, they have to keep a watchful eye on the possible abuse of other drugs.
Today, the health and law enforcement professionals who regulate the use and availability of prescription drugs held a training session with experts from the United Nations of Office on Drugs and Crime. They tell us that as of right now, there aren't many cases of Belizeans abusing medications, and they are hoping to help keep it that day. That's why they participated in this "Controlled Medication Workshop", and 7News stopped by to talk to the experts on the topic. Here's what they told us:
Samira Gongora - Acting Technical Advisor, Pharmacy Unit, Ministry of Health
"We intend on hearing the regional responses to controlled drug abuse. Particularly, we're looking at palliative care treatment, which are the narcotics and psychotropics. And so, we want to get a feel of what the region's response [is ]to the abuse of those type of drugs: narcotics and psychotropics."
Reporter
"Explain for us, those who aren't medical professionals, what you mean when you say narcotics and psychotics. Are these, the legal, over-the-counter drugs?"
Samira Gondora
"They are legal, but you have to get a prescription to get them. And what happens is, especially with let's say cancer patients, they have excruciating pain. And so, these medications help them to manage to manage the pain in their illness. And so, they can be afforded these medication, and doctor prescribes it to them. But, when it gets into the illicit trade, in terms of people who aren't sick, and get access to it, then they abuse it. And then we have a problem on our hands. So, we want to ensure that we [are], at the same time, affording the access to the people suffering from whatever pain management, and also ensuring the control, that it doesn't end up in the illicit trade."
Melva Ramirez - Project Coodinator, UNODC
"You know that there is a problem because sometime people have diseases that need medications which we know are controlled substances, for example, a medication for pain. And are trying to work. We trying to work with different countries, not only in Central America, but all over the world, trying to increase the capacity building of health professionals, so that they can increase the use of these substances, but in a way that is beneficial for the patient. More than 80% of the population of the world have problems to have access to this kind of medicine, not only in our region, but world wide."
Members of the Health Ministry's Pharmacy Unit, the Drug Inspectorate, the National Drug Abuse Control Council, as well as officers from several law enforcement agencies all participated in the training.
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