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ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Results From The 2005 National Survey On Drug Use Among Secondary School Students OAS/CICAD March 2008 Acknowledgements Sincere thanks to school officials who facilitated the execution of this survey in their school settings, facilitators and everyone involved in this project in any way.
Special thanks to the Inter- American Drug Abuse Control Commission of the Organization of American States (CICAD- OAS) for providing expert assistance throughout this project and Miss Francisca Plummer the Consultant who prepared this report.
© March 2008 National Drug Council of Antigua and Barbuda National Drug Council Antigua and Barbuda Telephone: 1 Fax: Email: National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 2 - Table of Contents FOREWORD .................................................................................................................................. 8 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 9 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................ 9 ABOUT THE NATIONAL DRUG COUNCIL ......................................................................... 9 THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM IN Antigua & Barbuda ................................................. 10 SURVEY OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................... 11 SAMPLE DESIGN ................................................................................................................... 12 QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................................................................. 13 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS..................................................................................................... 14 LIMITATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 14 FORMAT OF REPORT AND EXPLANATION OF TABLES .............................................. 15 CHAPTER II: HIGHLIGHTS .................................................................................................. 16 KEY FINDINGS AT A GLANCE ........................................................................................... 16 LICIT SUBSTANCE USE........................................................................................................ 18 ILLICIT SUBSTANCE USE.................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER III: YOUTH PREVENTION RELATED MEASURES............................................ 26 CHAPTER IV: DRUG SPECIFIC PREVALENCES .................................................................. 32 PREVALENCE OF ALCOHOL USE ...................................................................................... 32 PREVALENCE OF MARIJUANA USE ................................................................................. 42 PREVALENCE OF CIGARETTE USE................................................................................... 50 PREVALENCE OF ILLICIT SUBSTANCE USE................................................................... 57 CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ............................................................................. 64 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 67 APPENDIX A - KEY TERMS ............................................................................................. 67 APPENDIX B – LIST OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS PARTICIPATING IN SURVEY... 70 APPENDIX C - SELECTED PREVALENCE TABLES..................................................... 71 APPENDIX D – QUESTIONNAIRE................................................................................... 73 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 3 - List of Tables Table 1: Description Of The Secondary School Student Sample: Antigua, 2005 ........................ 13 Table 2: Secondary School Students Attitudes Towards Sex.
Antigua, 2005 .............................. 31 Table 3: Prevalence And Frequency Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students By Selected Demographic Factors: Antigua, 2005..................................................................... 33 Table 4: Prevalence Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students, By......................... 43 Table 5: Prevalence Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students, By .......................... 51 Table 6: Prevalence Of Illicit Substance Use Among Secondary School Students, By Selected Demographic Factors: Antigua, 2005 ................................................................................... 58 Table 7: Prevalence of substance use among secondary school students in Forms...................... 71 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 4 - List of Figures Figure 1: Current Prevalence Of The Most Commonly Used Substances Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005............................................................................................ 17 Figure 2: Current Prevalence Of Licit Substance Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005........................................................................................................................ 18 Figure 3: First Time Use Of Selected Substances Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005....................................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 4: Mean Age Of First Use Of Selected Substances Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005........................................................................................................................ 20 Figure 5: Current Prevalence Of The Most Commonly Used Illicit Substances Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005............................................................................................ 21 Figure 6: Mean Age Of First Use Of Illicit Substances Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005........................................................................................................................ 22 Figure 7: Student Participation in Drug Prevention Activities: Antigua, 2005.
........................... 26 Figure 8: Students Reporting Losing Sleep Over Worry: Antigua, 2005 ..................................... 28 Figure 9: Student Perceptions of Experiencing Stress: Antigua, 2005 ......................................... 29 Figure 10: Student Perceptions of Their Confidence in Making Decisions, Antigua, 2005......... 30 Figure 11: Current Use Of Specific Alcoholic Drinks Among Secondary School....................... 34 Figure 12: Prevalence Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students By Age .................. 35 Figure 13: Current Prevalence Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students By Grade: Antigua, 2005........................................................................................................................ 36 Figure 14: Prevalence Of The Use Of Alcoholic Drinks Among Secondary School Students By Type Of School.
Antigua, 2005 ............................................................................................ 37 Figure 15: Prevalence Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students By Gender: Antigua, 2005....................................................................................................................................... 38 Figure 16: Self-Reported Behavioural Or Discipline Problems By Prevalence Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 ............................................................. 39 Figure 17: Probability of Repeating Grades or Courses By Prevalence Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 .......................................................................... 40 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 5 - Figure 18: Perceptions Of The Harmfulness Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005........................................................................................................................ 41 Figure 19: Prevalence Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students By Age Group: Antigua, 2005........................................................................................................................ 44 Figure 20: Prevalence Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students By Gender: Antigua, 2005........................................................................................................................ 45 Figure 21: Perceived Ease Of Obtaining Selected Illicit Drugs Among Secondary School Students: Antigua 2005.
........................................................................................................ 46 Figure 22: Percentage Of Students Last Offered Illicit Drugs In The Past Month Prior To The Survey Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005................................................. 47 Figure 23: Self-Reported Behavioural Or Discipline Problems By Prevalence Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 ............................................................. 48 Figure 24: Probability of Repeating Grades or Courses By Prevalence Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 .......................................................................... 48 Figure 25: Perceptions Of The Harmfulness Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary.................... 49 Figure 26: Prevalence Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students By Age Group: Saint Lucia, 2005............................................................................................................................ 52 Figure 27: Prevalence Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students By Gender: Antigua, 2005....................................................................................................................................... 53 Figure 28: Prevalence Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students By Type Of School: Antigua, 2005........................................................................................................................ 54 Figure 29: Self-Reported Behavioural Or Discipline Problems By Prevalence Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 ............................................................. 55 Figure 30:Probability of Repeating Grades or Courses By Prevalence Of Cigarettes Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 .......................................................................... 55 Figure 31: Perceptions Of The Harmfulness Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary...................... 56 Figure 32: Prevalence Of Illicit Drug Use Among Secondary School Students By Age Group: Antigua, 2005........................................................................................................................ 59 Figure 33: Prevalence Of Illicit Drug Use Among Secondary School Students By Gender: Antigua, 2005........................................................................................................................ 60 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 6 - Figure 34: Current Prevalence Of Illicit Drugs Use Among Secondary School Students By Grade: Antigua, 2005 ............................................................................................................ 61 Figure 35: Prevalence Of Illicit Drugs Use Among Secondary School Students By Type Of School: Antigua, 2005 .................................................................................................. 62 Figure 36: Self-Reported Behavioural Or Discipline Problems By Prevalence Of Illicit Drug Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 ............................................................. 63 Figure 37:Probability of Repeating Grades or Courses By Prevalence Of Illicit Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 .......................................................................... 63 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 7 - FOREWORD It is my pleasure to present this final report of the secondary school survey.
Over the years, there have been a variety of investments in youth activities to keep youngsters off the streets after school and during holidays.

Organised sorting activities are testimony to this.

Even within the school system there has been a number of initiatives to include drug education courses and activities.

It is believed however that the best defence against crime is stronger families and a stronger sense of personal responsibility.
Mentors must give guidance and counsel to young people, identify where they need help, and recruit them for programmes where they could be trained to make a decent living outside of crime.

We must encourage parents, their friends and neighbours to guide young people, to report their transgressions, to counsel them.

There must be sound and well-reasoned discipline from parents.

Teachers must play their parts and take a more active interest in young people.
Deviant behaviour does not start when persons reach adulthood.

It can be seen in schools, and teachers have responsibility to detect it and with the co-operation of parents to put programmes in place to address it.

We must tackle the causes of drug abuse and crime: To do so, the society itself has a responsibility to inculcate positive attitudes and values in both the home and school!
What we need is an early warning system that identifies not just some, but every drug addicted offender and every drug trafficking offender, at every stage of the health care and/or criminal justice system which aims to get each one of them off drugs and away from crime, even before they get started!

Our society must be protected from the consequences of both drug trafficking and drug abuse.
Clarence E Pilgrim Chairman National Drug Council / Project Coordinator National Schools Drug Survey National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 8 - CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION SUMMARY This report has been compiled by the National Drug Council of Antigua and Barbuda and presents the findings of the 2005 National Survey of Substance Use among Secondary School Students in Antigua.
This report, based on the 2005 data presents national estimates of rates of substance use among students; numbers of users, and other measures related to alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana and other illicit drugs.

Primarily an epidemiological study of drug use, this survey was conducted by administering a self-report questionnaire to secondary school students in forms two (2), three (3), four (4), six (6) and eight (8) in Antigua.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL DRUG COUNCIL The National Drug Council is a Non-Profit Voluntary Organisation, which is an advisory body to the Government of Antigua & Barbuda, through the Ministry of Social Transformation.

It is generally not an implementing body but rather relies on advising on projects/programmes to member organisations.

Alcohol and drug abuse is one of the most serious problems of recent times.

It affects children and adolescents of all socio-economic levels.
It is an extremely complex problem that transcends the public health arena.

Antigua and Barbuda National Drug Council, in keeping with the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism’s recommendations to gather information on drug misuse, including the annual incidence, prevalence, patterns of use and types of drugs within a key or general population, embarked on a schools drug use survey in 2005.
Prior to this current 2005 survey, previous attempts have been made to understand the nature and characteristics of student drug use.

Antigua & Barbuda first conducted a schools survey in 1991.

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 9 - At that time, it was revealed that the mean age of first use of alcohol was 12 years.

This survey was sponsored by the Manitoba Institute of Management.

In 2001, a National Drug Use Prevalence Survey was administered across schools and workplaces.
In this survey, it was revealed the age of first tasting an alcoholic drink and drug experimentation is reflected between eleven and thirteen years old.

The survey questionnaire was developed by a private consultancy.

A National Secondary School Survey was scheduled for 2002, using the SIDUC methodology under the umbrella of the Caribbean Drug Abuse Epidemiological Surveillance System Project.

For this year alone, there are an unusually high amount of press reports about gangs and drugs in the schools.
The survey was planned and executed with technical assistance from CICAD and CAREC.

The Ministry of Education officials have been making every effort to get an analysis of the extent of the problem.

THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM IN ANTIGUA & BARBUDA Drug abuse has even been called an "epidemic of modern times," because its extent and impact challenges the world's social security and public health systems.
An integral model in which drug production, trafficking and use all form part of the same problem, is highlighted by the drug- person-environment systems.

Understanding this problem requires us to always consider the context (global supra-system).

Conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean in the last decades have generated significant changes in consumption patterns.

These changes respond more to serious social and economic circumstances than to cultural traditions and customs.
Antigua & Barbuda is confronting critical situations such as violence and an increasing number of drug related crimes.

A variety of actions have been formalized by public and private sectors, with a strong spirit of community service.

The islands of Antigua and Barbuda have relatively extensive coastlines with many beaches and coves; the territorial waters are extensive in relation to the size of the islands.
Because of high levels of surveillance on traditional routes, the Caribbean has become an alternate route used by illicit drug traffickers.

Antigua and Barbuda is strategically located between the major producers of illicit drugs in South America and the major consumers in North America and Europe.

International sea routes to and from the Americas and Europe pass through or are in close National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 10 - proximity to Antigua waters.
During the past decade many Colombian vessels have been seized in the territorial waters of Antigua and Barbuda with large amounts of cannabis and cocaine.

Vessels from St Vincent and the Grenadines have also been seized with cannabis.

A large number of tourist ships visit Antigua each year and the island is well served by international airlines and a large number of small aircraft to and from regional and international destinations.
By virtue of its geographical location and significant sea and air traffic, Antigua and its territorial waters are perceived as conduits and trans-shipment sites for the international drug trade, which in turn facilitates a local supply of illegal drugs.

Antigua and Barbuda are dry islands and consequently are not a source of cocaine or cannabis.

The coca plant is not known on these islands.


Small quantities of cannabis are occasionally cultivated in the hilly areas of Antigua for local use, however the small size of the island and high levels of accessibility to all areas rule out extensive cultivation.

The challenges in the economy and limited financial resources place constraints on the governments' capability to maintain effective patrol and interdiction of illicit traffic through its territorial waters.
Consequently, there is some reliance on assistance from friendly nations, which have the capability to assist.

SURVEY OBJECTIVES This study was primarily intended to determine the nature and extent of drug use among youth in secondary schools in Antigua.

Further, it was hoped that the survey would provide data to inform the development of suitable prevention and treatment programs for the youth and guide policy makers to design a suitable drug abuse curriculum.
Other objectives also included: • To establish baseline data in order to be able to chart future trends.

• To identify specific problems encountered by the youth.

• To determine the attitudes of youth towards drug use.

• To create a social and demographic correlates database.

• To satisfy the requirements of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM).
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 11 - SAMPLE DESIGN In November 2005, the National Drug Council of Antigua and Barbuda, in conjunction with CICAD, conducted a survey of substance use among secondary school students in Antigua.

The respondents were all the 2057 full time students in Forms 2, 3, 4 and 6 in the 28 secondary schools around Antigua (see Appendix B).
This survey did not target the non-institutionalized population in this age group and did not include persons with no fixed household address (e.g., homeless and/or transient persons), and residents of institutional settings, such as jails and hospitals.

Efforts were made to carefully design and administer the survey to minimize underreporting and over reporting of drug use.

Nevertheless, some over or underreporting may have occurred.
Despite its inherent limitations, the survey process is the only practical method available for estimating the prevalence of drug use and related behaviours.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 12 - Table 1: Description Of The Secondary School Student Sample: Antigua, 2005 N Percentage of Students Gender Male Female Age 11 to 14 15 to 16 17+ Grade in school 2 3 4 6 8 Type of School Public Private 850 1155 846 636 401 991 19 732 185 94 1655 402 42.4 57.6 44.9 33.8 21.3 49.0 0.9 36.2 9.2 4.7 80.5 19.5 QUESTIONNAIRE Self-administered questionnaires administered at the respondents’ respective schools were utilized to collect data.
Procedures that were likely to increase respondents' cooperation and willingness to report honestly about their illicit drug use were incorporated throughout survey execution.

For example, confidentiality is stressed in all written and oral communications and no personal identifying information is captured.

The anonymity of all respondents was maintained throughout the survey.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 13 - The questionnaire includes initial demographic items and self-administered questions pertaining to the use of fifteen drugs including cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, hashish, cocaine/crack, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, tranquilizers, stimulants, coca paste, heroin, opium, morphine and other drugs.
Supplemental topics in the remaining self-administered sections include (but are not limited to) perceived harmfulness of substance use, curiosity about trying illicit drugs and actual intention to try a drug if offered.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS The preliminary analysis was conducted by CICAD-OAS.

Data was entered using a simple Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, converted to SPSS, and then processed.
Frequency tables and cross-tabulations of the main variables were generated using SPSS to produce an informative and accurate representation of the data.

LIMITATIONS This report provides prevalence estimates of substance use among secondary school students in Antigua in 2005.

This information can be useful for designing and implementing policy and prevention programmes.

However, some limitations should be kept in mind when interpreting the data and considering the implications of the findings.
Since only full-time students in secondary schools were sampled, the findings of this study can only be generalized to the population of secondary school students in Antigua.

The findings do, however, represent reasonable estimates of substance use among the secondary school population of Antigua.

Further, as in any survey, a potential source of bias is the understatement or overstatement of actual behaviour.
The validity of the data ultimately depends on the comprehension, honesty, and recall of the respondents.

Despite assurances of confidentiality, some respondents are likely to be reluctant to admit illicit drug use and related activities out of concern for privacy or social desirability or for fear of repercussion.
Therefore, this survey, like any other self-report survey National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 14 - cannot guarantee absolutely accuracy in reporting the extent of the use of illicit drugs and the consumption of alcohol and cigarettes by secondary school students.

It should also be emphasized that none of the findings in this report can determine causal relationships.
This report is valuable in that it highlights the relationships between factors and the strength of these relationships among different groups of students.

FORMAT OF REPORT AND EXPLANATION OF TABLES This report provides an overview of the findings relating to the prevalence of substance use among secondary school students in Antigua and highlights the national findings on specific substances including the use of cigarettes, alcohol and illicit drugs including marijuana.
A final chapter summarizes the results and discusses key policy implications.

Tables, text, and figures present prevalence measures by lifetime (i.e., ever used), past year, and past month use.

Analyses focus primarily on past month use, which also is referred to as "current use."

Appendices offer key definitions (Appendix A), present the list of the secondary schools participating in the survey in 2005 (Appendix B) and present selected tabulations of estimates (Appendix C).
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 15 - CHAPTER II: HIGHLIGHTS In November 2005, the National Drug Council of Antigua and Barbuda in conjunction with the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission of the Organization of American States (CICAD-OAS) conducted a survey of substance use and related behaviours among full time secondary school students of Forms 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 in Antigua.

A total of 2057 students from the 28 secondary schools in Antigua participated in this survey.
The highlights of the findings of this survey are presented here.

KEY FINDINGS AT A GLANCE • Alcohol was the most widely used substance among secondary students with 73.4 percent of students reporting ever having used it.

About one third of secondary school students participating in the survey (32.6%) reported having used it in the month prior to the survey (Figure 1).
About one third (31.3 percent) of students who drank participated in binge drinking, that is having five or more drinks in one sitting in the past two weeks prior to the survey.

Of these 5.9% percent engaged in heavy drinking, that is drinking five or more drinks four or more times in the past two weeks prior to the survey.

• In terms of lifetime prevalence, marijuana (25.1 percent), and cigarettes (17.8 percent) and solvents and inhalants (13.6 percent) were the next most widely used substances.
• More students reported using ‘other drugs’ at least once in their lives (3.8 percent) than tranquillizers (2.99 percent) and stimulants (2.7 percent).

• Only a small proportion reported ever using opiates (heroin 0.9; opium, 0.4 and morphine, 1.2), cocaine (1.8), crack (1.8) coca paste (0.7) ecstasy (1.3), hashish (1.7) and hallucinogens (1.2).

• More males reported use of each of the three most commonly used substances in the month prior to the survey.
Notable was that slightly more females than males reported ever having used alcohol (74.3 percent versus 72.4 percent) and using alcohol in the year prior to the survey (54.3 versus 51.5 percent).

Overall, females reported greater use of National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 16 - solvents and inhalants than males (2.5 versus 1.5 percent) in the month prior to the survey.

• About one third of students in the sample (32.6%) reported ever having used an illegal drug.
Figure 1: Current Prevalence Of The Most Commonly Used Substances Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 17 - LICIT SUBSTANCE USE Alcohol Alcohol was the number one substance that secondary school students in Antigua reported using in 2005.
Although the legal drinking age in Antigua is 18 years, approximately three quarters (73.4%) of secondary school students in the sample reported having consumed an alcoholic drink at least once during their lives, about fifty percent (53%) in the past year and about one third (32.6%) within the past month prior to the survey.
Of legal substances used, a substantially higher percentage of students currently (past month prior to the survey) use alcohol (32.6%) than use cigarettes (1.8%) or solvents and inhalants (2.2%) (Figure 2) Figure 2: Current Prevalence Of Licit Substance Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 18 - In the 2005 secondary school sample, alcohol also had the highest incidence by far among substances used (Figure 3).
About forty five percent (44.3%) of secondary school students in the sample used alcoholic drinks for the first time in the year prior to the survey and more than one quarter (27.6%) used alcoholic drinks for the first time in the past month prior to the survey.

In 2005, secondary school students reported using alcohol earlier than any other drug with the average age of first alcohol use reported at 11.3 years (Figure 4).
Figure 3: First Time Use Of Selected Substances Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005.

Cigarettes Just under one fifth (17.8%) of secondary school students in the sample have used cigarettes at least once in their lives; 4.7 percent have used cigarettes in the past year prior to the survey and 1.8 percent reported being current users.

Of current users, males (2.7 percent) were more than twice as likely to smoke than females (1.1 percent).
The percentage of secondary school students in the sample who smoked cigarettes for the first time within the past twelve months prior to the survey was four percent (4%) and about one National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 19 - percent (0.97%) smoked cigarettes for first time in the past month prior to the survey.

In 2005, the average age of first cigarette use among recent users was 11.4 years.
Solvents and Inhalants Nearly 14 percent (13.6%) of secondary school students in the sample used solvents and inhalants at least once in their lives and 4.2 percent used solvents and inhalants in the past year.

In the past month, 2.2 percent of students in the sample used solvents and inhalants.
In the 2005 sample about four percent (3.97%) of secondary school students used inhalants for the first time within the past year prior to the survey and just over two percent (2.3%) used solvents and inhalants for the first time in the past month prior to the survey.

About twenty percent (22.2%) were under the age of 10 when they first used.

In 2005 the average age at first use of inhalants was 11.4 years.
Figure 4: Mean Age Of First Use Of Selected Substances Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005.

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 20 - ILLICIT SUBSTANCE USE Any Illicit drug About ten percent (10.4%) of the secondary school sample were current users of an illicit drug, including marijuana.

About one third (32.6%) of secondary school students report using an illicit drug at least once in their lifetime and 16.7 percent have used an illicit drug in the past year prior to the survey.
Marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug.

Twenty five percent (25%) of the students in the sample reported that they had used marijuana at least once in their lifetime.

Among students in the sample, 8.5 percent used marijuana, 1.4 percent used tranquilizers and 1.1 percent used stimulants in the month prior to the survey.

Other drugs were consumed by 2.3 percent of secondary school students in the month prior to the survey (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Current Prevalence Of The Most Commonly Used Illicit Substances Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 21 - In 2005, the incidence rate for the use of illicit drugs among secondary school students in Antigua in the month prior to the survey was 5.8 percent.

Just less than twelve percent (11.8%) of the students in the sample reported using of an illicit drug for the first time within the past year prior to the survey.
The average age at which the students in the sample first used an illegal drug was 12 years but 36.4 percent of illicit drug users were 11 years and under when they first used illegal drugs.

Among secondary school students in the sample, the average age of first use of marijuana was 12.8 years, 13.2 years for cocaine, 12.2 years for stimulants, and 11.4 years for tranquilizers (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Mean Age Of First Use Of Illicit Substances Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 22 - Marijuana Marijuana was the most widely used illicit drug with 25 percent of the students having used the substance at least once in their lives and 13.6 percent in the past year prior to the survey.

The percentage of secondary school students in the sample currently using marijuana in 2005 was approximately nine percent (8.5%).
Among secondary school students in the sample lifetime prevalence of marijuana use was more common among males (32.7%) than females (19.4%).

Use of marijuana was about twice as prevalent among males, with 12.6 percent males and 5.5 percent females reporting marijuana use in the past month prior to the 2005 survey.
Less than eight percent (7.4%) of secondary school students in the sample used marijuana for the first time in the past year prior to the survey and four percent (4%) of students in the sample were recent (past month) first time users in 2005.

Hashish Less than 0.5 percent (.49%) of the student sample reported using hashish in the month prior to the survey.

Less than two percent (1.7%) of secondary school students in the sample reported ever using hashish.
Tranquilizers Less than one percent (.85%) of secondary school students in the sample reported using tranquilizers in the past month prior to the survey, 1.4 percent in the past year and about three percent (2.99) at least once in their lives.

Cocaine and Crack Both current use (0.5%) and past year (0.9%) use of crack was less than one percent.

Less than two percent (1.8%) of secondary school students in the sample reported having used crack in their lives.
The use of cocaine was marginally higher than use of crack with less than one percent (0.7%) reporting having used cocaine in the month prior to the survey, one percent (1%) in the year prior to the survey and almost two percent (1.8%) at least once in their lifetime.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 23 - Stimulants About one percent (1.1%) of secondary school students in the sample reported using stimulants in the month prior to the survey and just less than three percent (2.7%) reported ever having used stimulants in their lifetimes.

Heroin and other opiates In 2005, less than one percent of secondary school students in the sample report using heroin (0.9%) and opium (0.4%).
Marginally more than one percent (1.2%) reported use of morphine at least once in their lifetimes.

Hallucinogens Hallucinogens were used by just over one percent (1.2%) of secondary school students in the 2005 sample.

Ecstasy The rate of lifetime use of ecstasy was less than two percent (1.3%) among secondary school students in the 2005 sample.
Other drugs Just over two percent (2.3%) of secondary school students in the sample report using other drugs in the past month prior to the survey, 3.5 percent have used other drugs in the past year prior to the survey and 3.8 percent have used other drugs during their lifetime.

Marginally more students reported using other drugs in the month prior to the survey than cigarettes (1.8%) and solvents and inhalants (2.2%).
The incidence rate for the use of other drugs within the past year prior to the survey was about four percent (3.8%) and approximately two percent (2%) in the past month prior to the survey.

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 24 - KEY FINDINGS: POLICY IMPLICATIONS Below highlights some policy implications that are discussed further in chapter 4.
• There needs to be a sustained focus on alcohol prevention and intervention programmes among secondary school students in Antigua and the legal drinking age needs to be more closely enforced.

• A comprehensive national alcohol and drug education and prevention programme needs to be implemented from the early school years since students, on average, report using alcohol and drugs in the lower forms of secondary school (around age 11 to 12 years).
In addition, some students report using alcohol and drugs much earlier in primary school.

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 25 - CHAPTER III: YOUTH PREVENTION RELATED MEASURES DRUG RELATED MEASURES Participation in Drug Prevention Activities Students were asked whether they had participated in any drug prevention activity (workshops, courses, lectures).
About two thirds of the students participating in the 2005 survey (65.4%), reported that they had not participated in any drug prevention activity (Figure 7) Figure 7: Student Participation in Drug Prevention Activities: Antigua, 2005.

Of students reporting participating in drug prevention activities, about seventy percent (70.5%) found the activity to be ‘very useful’.

A further 11.5 percent found the activity ‘useful’ and 6.2 percent found it slightly useful.
Overall, almost ninety percent (88.2%) of students participating in these activities found them useful.

Further of these students engaging in drug prevention activities, 68.1 percent said that these activities changed their attitude ‘a lot’ and 12.3 percent said that these activities changed their attitude a little.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 26 - Perceived Harmfulness of Drugs One factor that can influence whether young people will use tobacco, alcohol, or illicit drugs is the extent to which they believe these substances might cause them harm.

Secondary school students in the 2005 sample were asked about their perceptions of the harmfulness of drugs based on the frequency of use.
• The majority of secondary school students in the sample view smoking cigarettes frequently (82.5%) as very harmful and about half of students in the 2005 sample report that smoking cigarettes sometimes (49.7%) is harmful.

• About sixty percent (58%) of the sample report that drinking alcohol frequently is very harmful and more than two thirds (76.4%) see getting drunk as very harmful.
• Just less than half (43.3%) of the secondary school students in the 2005 sample, reported that smoking marijuana sometimes is very harmful and over two thirds (69.3%) view smoking marijuana frequently as very harmful.

• Nearly half of the sample of secondary school students (46.5%) reported that it would be easy to obtain marijuana.
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING Physical Health Of students participating in the 2005 survey, 43.1 percent rated their health as excellent, 29.7 percent rated their health ‘very good’ and 18.9 percent as ‘good’.

A small group of students reported having ‘fair’ (6.7%) and ‘poor’ (1.6%) health.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 27 - Psychological Well-being About sixteen percent (15.8%) of students participating in the 2005 survey, reported losing a lot of sleep over worry and over twenty five percent (26.6%) reported losing ‘a little’ sleep over worry (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Students Reporting Losing Sleep Over Worry: Antigua, 2005 About quarter (25.1%) of the students participating in the survey reported that they felt they were constantly under stress ‘a lot’ of the time.
Further, almost forty percent (39.1%) say that they feel they a constantly under stress ‘a little’ of the time (Figure 9) National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 28 - Figure 9: Student Perceptions of Experiencing Stress: Antigua, 2005 The majority of students (64.7%) say that they feel very confident making decisions, and a further 23.1 percent report that they feel ‘confident’ and slightly confident (6.4%) making decisions.
Only four percent said they did not know how much confidence they had in them selves to make decisions (Figure 10).

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 29 - Figure 10: Student Perceptions of Their Confidence in Making Decisions, Antigua, 2005 Students were asked whom they felt comfortable talking to when they want to discuss issues.
Table 2 shows that secondary school students in the 2005 sample report talking most to friends, girlfriends or boyfriends, their mother and other relatives Table 2: Persons With Whom Students Talked To About Their Issues: Antigua, 2005 Father Mother Stepmother Stepfather Girlfriend/Boyfriend Friend Other Relative Other YES 74.8 83.3 71.9 72.5 84.3 89.0 83.7 81.8 NO 25.2 16.7 28.1 27.5 15.7 11.0 16.3 18.2 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 30 - Attitudes Towards Sex Respondents were asked about their attitudes towards sex.
Table 3 below shows that about thirty two percent (32.4%) of students in the 2005 sample agree that it is okay for people their age to have sex.

The percentage agreeing that is okay to have sex increases when sex is with someone they have dated for a long time (42.9%).

Interestingly, about one tenth (10.7%) believe that it is okay for people their age to have sex with someone they do not know very well.
Although the majority of students agree that unprotected sexual activity may pose harm to their health, almost twenty percent (19.6%) disagree with this statement.

About eighty two percent (82.8%) believe that people their age should use condoms if they have sex.

Of concern is that over twelve percent (12.4%) disagree that unprotected sex may pose harm to their health.
Table 3: Secondary School Students Attitudes Towards Sex: Antigua, 2005 PERCENTGE (%) I BELIEVE THAT… Definitely disagree Disagree Neither agree or disagree 18.6 15.0 Agree Definitely agree 21.0 29.0 11.4 13.9 27.5 22.5 21.6 19.6 It is okay for people my age to have sex It is okay for people my age to have sex with someone they have dated for a long time It is okay for people my age to have sex with someone they do not know very well Unprotected sexual activity may pose harm to my health People my age should use condoms if they have sex It is okay for people my age to say No to having sex My peers may not like me again if I have sex 54.1 29.3 5.8 5.5 5.2 14.0 5.6 9.7 2.7 14.2 6.1 3.2 4.8 9.1 31.3 45.9 33.0 49.8 29.1 41.7 36.5 27.1 18.2 10.9 7.3 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 31 - CHAPTER IV: DRUG SPECIFIC PREVALENCE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS PREVALENCE OF ALCOHOL USE The 2005 National Survey on Substance Use among Secondary School Students in Antigua includes questions about the recency and frequency of the use of alcoholic drinks, such as beer, wine and hard liquor.
For this report, estimates for the prevalence of alcohol use are reported primarily at three levels defined for both males and females and for all ages as follows: • Lifetime use – consumed at least one alcoholic drink in their lifetime.

• One-year use – consumed at least one alcoholic drink in the past year prior to the survey.

• Current (past month) use - consumed at least one alcoholic drink in the past 30 days (includes binge drinking and heavy use) prior to the survey.
Frequency is measured and defined as follows: • Binge use - five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the past two weeks prior to the survey (includes heavy use).

• Heavy use - five or more drinks on the same occasion 4 or more times in the past two weeks prior to the survey.

Key Findings • About one third (33%) of secondary school students in the sample reported consuming alcoholic drinks in the month prior to the 2005 survey (Table 4).
• An estimated 31.3% percent of students participated in binge drinking, which is drinking five or more drinks at one sitting on at least one day in the past two weeks prior to the survey.

Of these about 5.9 percent of students reported heavy drinking, defined as drinking five or more drinks in one sitting on five or more days in the past two weeks prior to the survey.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 32 - • Students in the sample report drinking beer (26%) and wine (25.4%) more than hard liquor (19%).

(See Figure 11).
Table 4: Prevalence And Frequency Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students By Selected Demographic Factors: Antigua, 2005 Prevalence Frequency Lifetime use Past year Past month Binge Heavy use All students 73.4 53.0 32.6 Gender Male Female Age 11 to 14 15 to 16 17 to 25 Grade in school 2-3 4 6-8 72.4 74.3 65.60 78.53 85.14 65.7 83.4 75.7 51.5 54.3 42.8 59.6 67.6 41.4 67.2 56.5 34.0 31.7 24.9 36.8 43.4 24.8 42.2 34.2 drinking 31.3 33.9 29.0 25.4 33.9 40.3 28.0 36.7 22.0 5.9 11.3 6.0 7.0 8.8 11.0 8.8 8.5 5.0 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 33 - Figure 11: Current Use Of Specific Alcoholic Drinks Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 Age Among secondary school students in the sample, the use of alcoholic drinks tended to increase with age.
About twenty five percent (24.9%) of secondary school students in the sample aged 11- 14; 36.8 percent of students aged 15 to 16 and 43.4 percent of students aged 17 to 25 years consumed alcoholic drinks in the past month prior to the survey (Figure 12).

In 2005, the average age at first use of alcoholic drinks among secondary school students in the sample was 11.3 years.
About four percent (4.1%) of students report consuming alcoholic drinks for the first time at 5 years, fifteen percent (15.1%) at 10 years and about six percent (5.5%) at 15 years.

By 12 years of age 64.8 percent of secondary school students in Antigua have already consumed an alcoholic drink for the first time.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 34 - Figure 12: Prevalence Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students By Age Group: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 35 - Grade in School In the 2005 sample, alcohol use peaks among secondary school students in Form 4 and then drops again among older students in Forms 6-8.
Of students in the sample, about twenty five percent (24.9) in Forms 2-3, versus over forty percent (42.2%) of students in Forms 4 and about thirty four percent (34.2) of students in Forms 6-8 reported using alcohol in the past month prior to the survey.
A similar pattern is observed for alcohol use in the year prior to the survey (Figure 13) Figure 13: Current Prevalence Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students By Grade: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 36 - Type of school There was little difference in the use of alcohol between public and private sector secondary school students in the 2005 sample (Figure 14) Figure 14: Prevalence Of The Use Of Alcoholic Drinks Among Secondary School Students By Type Of School.
Antigua, 2005 Gender In the 2005 sample, slightly more males (34%) than females reported current use of alcoholic drinks (31.7%).

However, it was notable than females were marginally more likely to report using alcohol in the past year (54.3% versus 51.5%) and in their lifetime (74.3% versus 72.4%) (Figure15).
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 37 - Figure 15: Prevalence Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students By Gender: Antigua, 2005 Association with Behavioural Problems and Academic Performance Forty six percent (46%) of secondary school students in the sample who were current alcohol users report experiencing frequent behavioural or discipline problems at school and about sixty percent (59%) of students using alcohol in the year prior to the survey reported frequent behavioural or discipline problems (Figure 16).
It is clear from this graph that students with more behavioural problems have higher a prevalence of alcohol use.

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 38 - Figure 16: Self-Reported Behavioural Or Discipline Problems By Prevalence Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 More than one third (38.4%) of students reporting current (past month) alcohol use reported repeating two or more courses (Figure 17).
It appears that in general, students with a higher number of repeated grades have slightly higher levels of prevalence.

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 39 - Figure 17: Probability of Repeating Grades or Courses By Prevalence Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 Perceptions of the Harmfulness of Alcohol Use The majority of secondary school students in the sample see drinking frequently and getting drunk as harmful.
About 58 percent (58.1%) of the sample report that drinking alcohol frequently is very harmful and more than two thirds (76.4%) see getting drunk as very harmful.

About five percent (5.4%) say that frequently drinking alcohol and less than 3 percent (2.9%) say that getting drunk is not harmful (Figure 19).
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 40 - Figure 18: Perceptions Of The Harmfulness Of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 41 - PREVALENCE OF MARIJUANA USE The 2005 National Survey on Substance Use among Secondary School Students includes a series of questions about the use of marijuana.
For this report, estimates for the prevalence of marijuana use are reported primarily at three levels defined for both males and females and for all ages as follows: • Lifetime use – smoked marijuana on at least one occasion in their lifetime.

• One-year use – smoked marijuana on at least one occasion in the past year prior to the survey.

• Current (past month) use - smoked marijuana on at least one occasion in the past 30 days prior to the survey.
Key Findings • In 2005, about one quarter (25.1%) of the secondary school students in the sample reported using marijuana in their lifetime (Table 5).

• Of illicit substances, marijuana was the most popular.

In 2005, about 9.0 percent (8.5%) of secondary school students in the sample used marijuana during the past month prior to the survey.

Approximately 13.6 percent report having used marijuana in the past year prior to the survey.
• Students reported being offered marijuana (15.4%) more often than cocaine (1.6%), hashish (1.2%), ecstasy (1.6%) and crack (2.0%) in the past month prior to the survey (Figure 17).
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 42 - Table 5: Prevalence Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students, By Selected Demographic Factors: Antigua, 2005 Lifetime Past Year Past Month All students 25.1 13.6 8.5 Gender Male Female Age 11 to 14 15 to 16 17+ Grade in School Form 2-3 Form 4 Form 6-8 32.7 19.4 17.2 30.0 34.1 20.8 31.6 21.3 19.8 8.9 7.2 16.3 22.2 10.8 18.2 9.9 12.6 5.5 4.3 10.4 13.0 6.6 11.8 5.3 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 43 - Age Of the secondary school students in the sample, older students reported higher levels of use of marijuana (Figure 20).
In 2005, 4.3 percent of secondary school students aged 11 to 14; 10.4 percent of students aged 15 to 16 and 13 percent of students aged 17 to 25 years were current (past month) users of marijuana (Figure 13).

The older students in the sample (17-25 years) were about three times more likely to report using marijuana in the month prior to the survey compared to students aged 11 to 14 years.
Less than one percent (.8%) of students report first smoking marijuana at 5 years old; 7.9 percent at 10 years and 12.3 percent at 15 years.

The largest percentage of students report using marijuana for the first time between the ages of 12 to 14 years.

Almost ninety percent (88.7%) of secondary school students who reported marijuana use, have already smoked marijuana for the first time by 15 years or younger, on average.
Figure 19: Prevalence Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students By Age Group: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 44 - Gender As shown in Figure 21, males in the sample were twice as likely to smoke marijuana as females (12.6% versus 5.5%) in the past month prior to the survey.

Males were also more likely to use marijuana in the past year prior to the survey (19.8% vs. 8.9%) and in their lifetimes (32.7 vs. 19.4% respectively).
Figure 20: Prevalence Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students By Gender: Antigua, 2005 Type of School Secondary school students in the public schools in Antigua reported slightly higher levels of marijuana use overall compared to students in private schools.

In the month prior to the 2005 survey, about nine percent (8.9%) of secondary school students in public schools compared to about seven percent (6.9%) of students in private schools reported using marijuana.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 45 - Perceived Availability of Marijuana A troubling finding is the ease with which secondary school students in Antigua say they can obtain marijuana.

Nearly half of the sample of secondary school students (46.5%) report that it would be easy to obtain marijuana.

Just over one quarter report that it would be difficult (8.3%) to impossible (19.1%) to obtain marijuana (Figure 22).
Of illegal drugs in this survey, marijuana was perceived as the most easily accessible by students in this 2005 secondary school sample.

Whereas the majority of students (65.4%) have never been offered marijuana, about fifteen percent (15.4%) of secondary school students in the sample had been offered marijuana in the past month prior to the survey (Figure 23).

Figure 21: Perceived Ease Of Obtaining Selected Illicit Drugs Among Secondary School Students: Antigua 2005.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 46 - Figure 22: Percentage Of Students Last Offered Illicit Drugs In The Past Month Prior To The Survey Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005.

Association with Behavioural Problems and Academic Performance Students who experienced a few behavioural problems reported higher rates of prevalence than those with no behavioural problems, while those with frequent behavioural problems reported higher prevalence rates than those with a few behavioural problems.
It seems therefore that students with more behavioural problems have higher prevalence of marijuana use.

(Figure 24) The same type of relationship exists between prevalence and number of repeated grades (Figure 25).
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 47 - Figure 23: Self-Reported Behavioural Or Discipline Problems By Prevalence Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 Figure 24: Probability of Repeating Grades or Courses By Prevalence Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 48 - Perceptions of the Harmfulness of Marijuana Use About forty five percent (43.3%) of the secondary school students in the 2005 sample, reported that smoking marijuana sometimes is very harmful and over two thirds (69.3%) view smoking marijuana frequently as very harmful.
A smaller percentage (11.3%) reported that smoking marijuana sometimes is not harmful and 7.5 percent said that smoking marijuana frequently is not harmful (Figure 26).

Figure 25: Perceptions Of The Harmfulness Of Marijuana Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 49 - PREVALENCE OF CIGARETTE USE The 2005 National Survey on Substance Use among Secondary School Students in Antigua includes a series of questions about the use of cigarettes.
For this report, estimates for the prevalence of cigarette use are reported primarily at three levels defined for both males and females and for all ages as follows: • Lifetime use – smoked at least one cigarette in their lifetime.

• One-year use – smoked at least one cigarette in the past year prior to the survey.

• Current (past month) use - smoked at least one cigarette in the past 30 days prior to the survey.
Key Findings • In 2005, 17.8 percent of the sample of secondary school students had smoked cigarettes at least once in their lives.

Of the entire sample, current (past month) users of cigarettes accounted for less than two percent (1.8%) while 4.7 percent used cigarettes in the past year prior to the survey (Table 6).

• Among the group of smokers in the sample, approximately 14.4 percent were heavy cigarette smokers, reporting smoking 6 or more cigarettes per day in the past month prior to the survey.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 50 - Table 6: Prevalence Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students, By Selected Demographic Factors: Antigua, 2005 Lifetime Past year Past month All students 17.8 4.7 1.8 Gender Male Female Age 11 to 14 15 to 16 17+ Grade in School Form 2-3 Form 4 Form 6-8 19.9 15.9 11.8 23.5 21.5 13.71 24.29 14.55 5.4 4.0 3.0 6.7 4.9 3.54 7.23 1.88 2.7 1.1 .99 2.8 1.8 1.45 3.18 0.00 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 51 - Age In the 2005 sample, about one percent (.99%) of secondary school students aged 11 to 14; 2.8 percent of students aged 15 to 16 and 1.8 percent of students 17+ years were current (past month) cigarette smokers (Figure 27).
On average, students in the sample were almost 12 years of age (11.4 years) when they smoked cigarettes for the first time (see Figure 4 above).

One percent (1%) of students report smoking cigarettes for the first time at age 5 years, 13 percent at 10 years and 5.5 percent at age 15 years.

By 12 years, over sixty percent (62.5%) of secondary school students in the sample have already tried cigarettes for the first time.
Figure 26: Prevalence Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students By Age Group: Saint Lucia, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 52 - Gender In 2005, the current use of cigarettes among secondary school students in the sample was reported by a higher percentage of males (2.7%) than females (1.1%) (Figure 28).

Males were also more likely to report using cigarettes in the past year (5.4% vs. 4%) and at least once in their lives (19.9% vs. 15.9%).
Figure 27: Prevalence Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students By Gender: Antigua, 2005 Type of school Of the secondary school students in the sample, private school students were slightly more likely to report smoking cigarettes than public school students.

In the past month prior to the survey, 2.4 percent of private school students and 1.7 percent of public school students reported smoking cigarettes.
Private students were also more likely to report smoking cigarettes in the past year prior to the survey compared to public school students (6.6% vs. 4.2%) (Figure 29).

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 53 - Figure 28: Prevalence Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students By Type Of School: Antigua, 2005 Association with Behavioural Problems and Academic Performance It is clear as shown in Figure 30 that students with more behavioural problems have higher prevalence rates of cigarette use.
For example, students with no behavioural problems had past year prevalence rates of 2.7%, while those who experienced behavioural problems a few times had past year rates of 5.6%.

Those who frequently had behavioural problems had past year rates of 17.2%.

A similar relationship exists between repeating grades or courses and prevalence (Figure 31).
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 54 - Figure 29: Self-Reported Behavioural Or Discipline Problems By Prevalence Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 Figure 30:Probability of Repeating Grades or Courses By Prevalence Of Cigarettes Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 55 - Perceptions of the Harmfulness of Cigarette Use The majority of secondary school students in the sample view smoking cigarettes frequently (82.5%) and smoking cigarettes sometimes (49.7%) as very harmful.
A small minority (1.7%) of students in the sample say that smoking cigarettes frequently is not harmful and about three percent (3.2%) say that smoking cigarettes sometimes is not harmful (Figure 32).
Figure 31: Perceptions Of The Harmfulness Of Cigarette Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 56 - PREVALENCE OF ILLICIT SUBSTANCE USE The 2005 National Survey on Substance Use among Secondary School Students obtains information on eleven different categories of illicit drugs.
For the purposes of this report, illicit drug use refers to the non-medical use of marijuana, cocaine/crack, heroin, opium, morphine, hallucinogens, hashish, coca paste and ecstasy and inhalants.

Over-the-counter drugs and legitimate uses of prescription drugs are not included.
For this report, estimates for the prevalence of any illicit drug are reported primarily at three levels defined for both males and females and for all ages as follows: • Lifetime use – used at least one illicit drug in their lifetime.

• One-year use – used at least one illicit drug in the past year prior to the survey.

• Current (past month) use - used at least one illicit drug in the past 30 days prior to the survey.
Key Findings • Illicit drug use is much less common than the use of alcohol among secondary school students in Antigua.

Among secondary school students, 10.5 percent were current users of an illicit drug, 17.1 percent report using an illicit drug in the past year prior to the survey and 33.1 percent report using an illicit drug at least once in their lifetime (Table 7).

• Of the illicit drugs, marijuana was the most popular among secondary school drug users in the sample.
25.2 percent have used marijuana at least once in their lives and 13.5 percent have used marijuana in the past year prior to the survey.

The percentage of secondary school students currently using marijuana in 2005 was 8.2 percent.

• Almost sixteen percent (15.9 percent) of secondary school students in the sample report being curious about trying an illicit drug but only 5.6 percent said they would try an illicit drug if they had the opportunity.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 57 - Table 7: Prevalence Of Illicit Substance Use Among Secondary School Students, By Selected Demographic Factors: Antigua, 2005 Lifetime Past year Past month All students 32.6 16.7 10.4 Gender Male Female Age 11 to 14 15 to 16 17+ Grade in School Form 2-3 Form 4 Form 6-8 37.1 29.3 28.0 36.2 38.9 29.8 37.2 30.1 20.5 14.1 11.5 20.0 24.4 13.7 21.6 14.3 13.3 8.3 7.5 11.8 14.7 8.7 13.0 8.6 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 58 - Age In the 2005 sample, 7.5 percent of secondary school students aged 11 to 14; 11.8 percent of students aged 15 to 16 and 14.7 percent of students aged 17 to 25 years were current (past month) users of an illicit drug (Figure 33).
By 5 years of age 2.8 percent of secondary school students in the sample who have ever tried would have used an illicit drug, this figure more than doubles by 10 years of age (9.9 percent) and lowers again (8%) by 15 years of age.

About fifty percent (50.9%) of students in the sample who reported that they used an illicit drug, did so for the first time by the time when they were 12 years old or younger.
Figure 32: Prevalence Of Illicit Drug Use Among Secondary School Students By Age Group: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 59 - Gender As shown in Figure 34, more males than females (13.3% vs. 8.3% respectively) reported using an illicit drug in the past month prior to the survey.

The trends are similar for one-year and lifetime prevalence of the use of illicit drugs.
About twenty percent (20.5%) males vs. fourteen percent (14.1%) females report having used an illicit drug in the past year, and 37.1 percent of males vs. 29.3 percent of females report having used an illicit drug at least once in their lifetimes.

Figure 33: Prevalence Of Illicit Drug Use Among Secondary School Students By Gender: Antigua, 2005 Grade in School In the 2005 sample, current use of an illegal drug peaks in form 4, and then decreases again for students in forms 6-8.
Of secondary school students in the sample, 8.7 percent in Grade 2-3; and 12.98 percent in Form 4 and 8.6 percent in forms 6-8 reported using marijuana in the month prior to the survey (Figure 35).

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 60 - Figure 34: Current Prevalence Of Illicit Drugs Use Among Secondary School Students By Grade: Antigua, 2005 Type of School Secondary school students in public schools reported slightly higher use of an illegal drugs overall compared to students in private schools.
In the month prior to the 2005 survey 10.8 percent of secondary school students in public schools compared to 9 percent of students in private schools reported using an illegal drug.

The pattern is similar for students reporting using an illegal drug in the past year prior to the survey (17.5% vs. 13.7%).
(Figure 36) National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 61 - Figure 35: Prevalence Of Illicit Drugs Use Among Secondary School Students By Type Of School: Antigua, 2005 Association with Behavioural Problems and Academic Performance Students who experienced a few behavioural problems reported higher rates of prevalence for illegal drugs than those with no behavioural problems, while those with frequent behavioural problems reported higher prevalence rates than those with a few behavioural problems.
It seems therefore that students with more behavioural problems have higher prevalence of illegal drug use.

(Figure 24).

The same type of relationship exists between prevalence and number of repeated grades (Figure 25).
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 62 - Figure 36: Self-Reported Behavioural Or Discipline Problems By Prevalence Of Illicit Drug Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 Figure 37:Probability of Repeating Grades or Courses By Prevalence Of Illicit Use Among Secondary School Students: Antigua, 2005 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 63 - CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS This chapter discusses the key findings from the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use Among Secondary School Students in Antigua and offers some key policy implications.
Among secondary school students in Antigua, alcohol was the most commonly used substance, followed by marijuana, ‘other drugs’ and solvents and inhalants.

32.6 percent drank alcohol, 8.5 percent smoked marijuana, 2.3 used ‘other drugs' and 2.2 percent used solvents and inhalants in the past month prior to the survey.

Though the majority of secondary school students did not use alcohol, 5.9 percent did binge drink.
Overall, about one tenth of the secondary school students in the sample (10.4 percent) used an illicit drug in the past month prior to the survey.

DISCUSSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS This survey indicates that alcohol is the drug of choice among young people attending secondary schools in Antigua.

The use of alcohol is more common than the use of illicit drugs.
Consequently, it is imperative that attempts continue to be made to understand the underlying nature of alcohol and drug use among young people in Antigua and to develop programmes in response to identified needs.

Recognizing how drinking fits into the lives of young people in Antigua is a necessary foundation for effective interventions.
Future surveys need to elicit more precise information on the characteristics of underage drinkers, quantity of alcohol consumed and to ascertain brand preferences of underage drinkers.

Further, the first use of alcohol and other licit drugs like cigarettes and inhalants seems to precede the use of illicit drugs.
Therefore closer monitoring of access to licit drugs together with the implementation of prevention programmes targeting the lower forms of secondary school have the potential to impact positively by reducing the number of younger students using alcohol and other drugs.

Since age is closely associated with the use of several drugs in Antigua, ideally, developmentally appropriate drug prevention curricula should be developed and implemented at all grade levels.
National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 64 - Education is an integral part of the approach towards reducing alcohol use among adolescents, in as much as it can be used to change adolescents' attitudes toward drug and alcohol use and abuse.

The majority of secondary school students participating in this survey indicated that they had not engaged in drug education or prevention activities.
As a first step, efforts must be made to ensure that every secondary school student is exposed to alcohol and drug education activities.

However, education alone has not been found to be an effective intervention strategy.

For the most part, students in Antigua, have some awareness of the harmfulness of alcohol and drug use.

Yet, students still engage in alcohol and drug use.

Education of youth must therefore be part of a larger campaign targeting members of the community at large.
A national media effort, as a major component of an adult-oriented campaign to reduce underage drinking needs to be implemented and monitored.

The goals of the national media campaign would be to foster a broad societal commitment to reduce underage drinking, to increase specific actions by adults that are meant to discourage or inhibit underage drinking, and to decrease adult conduct that tends to facilitate underage drinking.
This campaign will also raise awareness among parents as parental support will be tantamount to the success of these programmes.

All parties must work together to promote positive social values, reduce risk and increase protective factors while building new and strengthening existing partnerships.

Efforts must also turn towards a unique combination of cultural empowerment, skill-building and developing creative means of emotional expression, such as storytelling and the arts.
These approaches must be combined with broad-based community programmes and school-based alcohol and drug prevention strategies.

Enhancing dialogue between youth, educators, parents, health and social services, organizations serving youth as well as governmental and non-governmental agencies can also be a powerful intervention and prevention tool.

The survey found that students felt most comfortable talking their peers, partners and other relatives.
All persons involved with youth at any level should be trained to use motivational interviewing techniques to enable them to effectively address issues such as drinking and other drug use as well as other issues facing the youth.

Young people are much less likely to use drugs when they are engaged in positive activities and when caring adults National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 65 - are involved in their lives.
Positive social development of youth, including a focus on age- specific education and drug prevention programmes must be developed in partnership with youth and should be youth-led, for the most part.

Intervention strategies specifically using messages that speak to gender issues in drug use must be incorporated at every level.
Marginally more males drank alcohol in the past month prior to the survey compared to females but there was a clear gender difference in the use of marijuana and solvents and inhalants.

Therefore, communication strategies must include messages specifically addressing gender issues in the use of alcohol and other drugs.
All these strategies call for meaningful youth engagement and investment in short to long-term, sustained programming for school curricula; comprehensive prevention programmes; approaches aimed at improving resiliency and promoting protective factors; improved access to and availability of youth-specific treatment programmes; and implementation of public policies, such as restricting access to alcohol.
There is still much to be discovered about effective prevention and youth-specific intervention strategies.

Whatever the chosen approach, however, it is important that it is aligned with the developmental needs of the adolescent and employs multi-dimensional strategies in addressing alcohol and drug use and abuse.
Effective and proven prevention and intervention strategies that fit into the cultural context of the Caribbean and Antigua in particular need to be developed, with an inbuilt mechanism for monitoring and evaluation.

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 66 - APPENDICES APPENDIX A - KEY TERMS This appendix provides definitions for many of the measures and terms used in this report on the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use.

Where relevant, cross- references also are provided.
Key Terms Age of the respondent was defined as "age at time of interview".

Respondents are asked to indicate their age on the questionnaire.

Alcohol Use drinking one or more alcoholic drinks in the respondent's lifetime, the past year, and the past month Binge Use of Alcohol was defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least one day in the past 2 weeks.

Cigarette Use is defined as smoking part or all of a cigarette.
Measures of use of cigarettes in the respondent's lifetime, the past year, and the past month are obtained.

Cocaine Use.

Cocaine and crack are powerfully addictive stimulants made from the coca plant.

Cocaine comes in powdered form and is snorted or dissolved into liquid and injected.

Measures of use of cocaine in the respondent's lifetime, the past year, and the past month were obtained.

Crack Use.
Crack Use.

Crack comes in small crystal rocks, which are smoked, creating the crackling sound the drug is named after.

Measures of use of crack cocaine in the respondent's lifetime, the past year, and the past month were obtained.

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 67 - Current Use refers to the percentage of students who used a substance during the 30 days prior to the survey.

SEE also past month use.

Hard Liquor this refers to alcoholic drinks that are distilled rather than fermented.
For instance, whiskey, vodka and rum would be considered hard liquor, but beer, wine and shandy would not be considered hard liquor.

Heavy Drinking refers to the consumption of four or more drinks during one occasion, on at least five occasions in the past two weeks.

A standard drink is 12 oz.

of beer, 5oz.

of wine and 1.5 oz of hard liquor.

Illicit Drugs.


For this report illicit is used to describe those drugs, which are controlled substances, including marijuana, cocaine, crack, hallucinogens, ecstasy or prescription-type psychotherapeutics used non-medically.

Illicit drug use refers to use of any of these drugs.

Incidence.

In substance use studies, incidence refers to the first use of a particular substance.
Incidence statistics in this report reflect first use occurring within the last 30 days and 12 months prior to the survey.

Inhalants.

Inhalants include a variety of ordinary household substances, such as cleaning fluids, gasoline, paint, and glue.

Measures of use of inhalants in the respondent's lifetime, the past year, and the past month were obtained.

Lifetime Prevalence is the percentage of students who used the substance at least once during their life.
This measure includes respondents who also reported last using the drug in the past 30 days or past 12 months.

See Prevalence.

Marijuana Use.

Measures of use of marijuana in the respondent's lifetime, the past year, and the past month were obtained.

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 68 - Past Month Use.

This measure indicates use of a specific drug in the 30 days prior to the interview.
Respondents who indicated past month use of a specific drug also were classified as lifetime and past year users.

Past Year Use.

This measure indicates use of a specific drug in the 12 months prior to the survey.

This definition includes those respondents who last used the drug in the 30 days prior to the interview.

Respondents who indicated past year use of a specific drug also were classified as lifetime users.

SEE: "Current Use," "Lifetime Use," "Past Month Use Perceived Harmfulness.
Respondents were asked to assess the harmfulness of using various drugs with various levels of frequency.

Response alternatives were (1) Not harmful, (2) slightly harmful, (3) moderately harmful, and (4) very harmful and (5) don’t know.

Prevalence is a general term used to describe the estimates for lifetime, past year, and past month substance use or other behaviours of interest within a given period.
In this report prevalence refers to the percentage of students who report having used a substance or substances, and the term “frequency” is used to describe how often use occurs.

Rounding.

The decision rules for the rounding of percentages were as follows.

If the second number to the right of the decimal point was greater than or equal to 5, the first number to the right of the decimal point was rounded up to the next higher number.
If the second number to the right of the decimal point was less than 5, the first number to the right of the decimal point remained the same.

Thus, a prevalence estimate of 56.55 percent would be rounded to 56.6 percent, while an estimate of 37.44 percent would be rounded to 37.4 percent.

Stimulant Use.

Measures of use of stimulants in the respondent's lifetime, the past year, and the past month were developed from responses to the question about recency of use.

Tranquilizer Use.
Tranquilizer Use.

Measures of use of tranquilizers in the respondent's lifetime, the past year, and the past month were developed from responses to the question about recency of use.

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 69 - APPENDIX B – LIST OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS PARTICIPATING IN SURVEY BY ZONE ZONE A Villa Junior Secondary T.N.Kirnon Junior Secondary Mary E. Pigott Junior Secondary Glanvilles Junior Secondary Evening institute Pares Secondary ZONE B Irene B. Williams Junior Sec.
J.T.Ambrose Junior Secondary Green Bay Junior Secondary St. Mary’s Centre of Excellence All Saints Secondary ZONE C Antigua Girls High Antigua Grammar Christian Faith Academy Christ the King High Youth Skills Clare Hall Secondary ZONE D Holy Trinity School – Barbuda Island Academy Jennings Secondary Ottos Comprehensive Bendals Junior Secondary ZONE E Princess Margaret Secondary St. Joseph’s Academy Seventh Day Adventist Central Baptiste Rastaari Levity School Antigua State College National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 70 - APPENDIX C - SELECTED PREVALENCE TABLES Table 8: Prevalence Of Substance Use Among Secondary School Students By Grade in School Any illicit drug Lifetime Past year Past month Marijuana Lifetime Past year Past month Alcoholic drinks Lifetime Past year Past month Cigarettes Lifetime Past year Past month TOTAL GRADE 2&3 4 6& .00 Solvents and inhalants Lifetime Past year Past month 13.6 4.2 2.2 14.02 3.93 2.50 13.48 4.67 2.02 14.02 4.25 1.93 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 71 - Table 6 cont'd Other drugs Lifetime Past year Past month Tranquillizers Lifetime Past year Past month Stimulants Lifetime Past year Past month Heroin Lifetime Opium Lifetime Hallucinogens Lifetime Cocoa paste Lifetime Ecstasy Lifetime Hashish Lifetime Cocaine Lifetime Crack Lifetime TOTAL GRADE 2&3 4 6&8 3.8 3.5 2.3 2.99 1.43 0.85 2.7 1.5 1.1 0.9 0.4 1.2 0.7 1.3 1.7 1.8 1.8 3.46 2.77 2.28 3.46 1.32 .66 3.31 1.87 1.32 1.21 .55 4.19 4.64 2.46 2.78 2.05 1.46 2.06 1.47 1.18 .74 .15 1.44 1.03 .89 .45 1.33 1.33 1.66 2.21 2.21 1.61 1.76 2.20 4.42 3.23 2.51 1.85 .37 .00 2.21 .37 .37 .37 .37 .37 .75 .75 .37 .74 .37 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 72 - APPENDIX D – QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY OF SCHOOL STUDENTS STANDARDIZED QUESTIONNAIRE The information provided in this questionnaire will be kept strictly confidential and will only be used to generate general statistics.
Please answer accurately.

April 2005 Dear Student, Your class have been selected to participate in a national school survey on drug use.

Many students across our country and nations within the Organization of American States are taking part in this survey.

Your participation is voluntary.

The results will be used to improve the drug prevention and education programmes for the youths of our nation.

To protect your privacy, please DO NOT write your name on this questionnaire.
Your answers cannot be linked to your name.

No one will know how you answered the questions and your teachers will not see your responses.

Please try and answer each question honestly.

This is not a test.

Most of the questions have no right or wrong answers.

Read each question carefully before marking your answer.

If you have any questions during the survey please raise your hand.
Thank you for your assistance _____________________ Clarence E. Pilgrim Chairman National Drug Council National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 73 - 1.

COUNTRY 2.

CITY 3.

CONTROL NUMBER 4.

Type of School 5.

Day, evening or night classes?

 1.

Public  2.

Private  3.

Other (specify)  1.

Day …...................  2.

Early evening  3.

Night 6.

Is your school 7.

What is your school grade/form?

 1.

All Male  2.

All Female  3.

Mixed ………………………………………………………………………….

QUESTIONNAIRE NUMBER 8.


Sex 9.

Age (on the day before the survey)  1.

Male  2.

Female Years old 10.

What is your parents’ marital “union” status?

11.

With whom do you live?

Code  1.

Married  2.

Divorced 3.

Stepmother 1.

Father   2.

Mother 4.

Stepfather    3.

Separated  4.

Widow(er) 5.

Girl/BoyFriend  6.

Wife/Husband   5.

Living together  6.

Single 7.

Other relative  8.

Friend  7.

Don’t know 9.

Alone  10.

Other   12.


If you are working as well as studying, how many hours do you work per week?

 1.

Do not work 13.

How probable is it that you will complete school?

 2.

Work approximately….……… hours per week 1.

Very probable  2.

Likely probable 3.

Not very probable  4.

Impossible 5.

Don’t know    14.

Is University?

it probable that you will go to 15.

How many grades/forms have you had to repeat during the course of your studies?

1.

Very probable  2.


Likely probable   1.

None  2.

One 3.

Not very probable  4.

Impossible   3.

Two or more 5.

Don’t know  National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 74 - 16.

How often have you been disciplined because of behavioral problems at school?

 1.

Never  2.

Few times  3.

Frequently 17.

In your opinion, how harmful are the following for your health?

1.

Not 2.

3.

4.

Slightly Moderately Very harmful harmful harmful harmful 5.

Don’t know 1.

Smoking cigarettes sometimes 2.


Smoking cigarettes frequently 3.

Drinking alcoholic beverages frequently 4.

Getting drunk 5.

Taking tranquilizers / stimulants without medical prescription sometimes 6.

Taking tranquilizers / stimulants without medical prescription frequently Inhale solvents sometimes 7.

8.

Inhale solvents frequently 9.

Smoke marihuana sometimes 10.

Smoke marihuana frequently 11.

Consume cocaine or crack sometimes 12.

Consume cocaine or crack frequently 13.


Consume hashish sometimes 14.

Consume hashish frequently 15.

Consume ecstasy sometimes 16.

Consume ecstasy frequently 18.

Have you ever smoked cigarettes?

(ALL TOBACCO PRODUCTS) 19.

How old were you when you smoked for the first time?

Years old  1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #24) National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 75 - 20.

When was the first time you smoked 21.

Have you smoked cigarettes in the past 12 cigarettes?

months?

 1.

During the past 30 days  1.


Yes  2.

No (go to #24)  2.

More than 1 month ago, less than 1 year ago  3.

More than a year ago 22.

Have you smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days?

23.

Approximately, how many cigarettes have you smoked a day in the past month?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #24)  1.

1 to 5  2.

6 to 10  3.

11 to 20  4.

More than 20 24.

Have you ever consumed alcoholic beverages?

(E.G., RUM, BEER, WINE, HARD LIQUOR) 25.


How old were you when you smoked for the first time?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #32) 26.

When was the first time you consumed Years old 27.

Have you consumed alcoholic beverages alcoholic beverages?

in the past 12 months?

 1.

During the past 30 days  1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #32)  2.

More than 1 month ago, less than 1 year ago  3.

More than a year ago 28.

Have you consumed alcoholic beverages in the past 30 days?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #32) 29.


How many days have you drank too much and have gotten drunk in the past month?

Days 30.

In the past 30 days, what type of alcoholic beverage did you consume, and with what frequency?

INDICATE WITH (*) WHAT CORRESPONDS FOR EACH ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE 1.

Daily 2.

3.

Some Weekends week days 4.

Only in social events 1 Beer 2 Wine 3 Hard liquor (Rum, Whisky, Vodka, etc.)

31.

In the past 2 weeks, how many times have you consumed 5 drinks or more in one sitting?

 1.
 1.

One or less  2.

2 to 3  3.

4 to 5  4.

6 to 10 National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 76 -  5.

11 to 20  6.

More than 20 32 .

How easy would it be to have access to the following drugs?

INDICATE WITH (*) WHAT CORRESPONDS FOR EACH DRUG Easy Difficult have access Don’t know Could not to 1.

Marihuana 2.

Cocaine 3.

Hashish 4.

Ecstasy 5.

Crack 33.


When was the last 30 days less than a year year ago been offered More than a During the month ago, but More than a I have never last time that you ago were offered any of 1.

Marihuana these drugs, either to buy or to consume?

2.

Cocaine 3.

Hashish INDICATE WITH (*) WHAT CORRESPONDS 4.

Ecstasy FOR EACH DRUG 5.

Crack 34.

Have you ever had curiosity to try an illicit drug?

35.

If you had the opportunity, would you try an illicit drug?

 1.

No  2.
 1.

No  2.

Could be  3.

Yes  1.

No  2.

Could be  3.

Yes National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 77 - 36.

Have you ever consumed any of these substances?

INDICATE WITH (*) WHAT CORRESPONDS FOR EACH SUBSTANCE when you tried for the 37.

How old were you NO YES first time?

1.

Tranquilizers without medical prescription (E.G., VALIUM, LIBRIUM) 2.

Stimulants without medical prescription (EG.

AMPHETAMINES) 3.

Solvents and inhalants ( EG.

LAUGHING GAS, GLUE, GASOLINE) 4.


Marihuana (E.G., WEED, POT, JOINT, GANJA) 5.

Coca paste 6.

Cocaine (E.G., COCAINE POWDER) 7.

Heroine 8.

Opium 9.

Morphine* 10.

Hallucinogens (E.G., PCP, LSD, ACID, ANGEL DUST) 11.

Hashish 12.

Crack (EG ROCKS OF COCAINE) 13.

Ecstasy (MDMA) 14.
Ecstasy (MDMA) 14.

Other drugs: ............................. Years old Years old Years old Years old Years old Years old Years old Years old Years old Years old Years old Years old Years old Years old National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 78 - 38a.

When was the first time you tried solvents and inhalants?

 0.

Never (go to #39a)  1.

In the past 30 days  2.

More than 1 month ago, but less than 1 year ago  3.

More 1 year ago 38c.

With what frequency have you used solvents and inhalants?

 1.
 1.

Only once  2.

Sometimes in the past 12 months  3.

Sometimes during the month  4.

Sometimes during the week  5.

Daily 38b.

Have you consumed solvents and inhalants in the past 12 months?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #39a) 38d.

Have you consumed solvents and inhalants in the past 30 days?

 1.

Yes  2.

No 39a.

When was the first time you tried Marihuana?

 0.

Never (go to #40a)  1. .

In the past 30 days  2.

More than 1 month ago, but less than 1 year ago  3.

More 1 year ago 39c.


With what frequency have you used Marihuana?

 1.

Only once  2.

Sometimes in the past 12 months  3.

Sometimes during the month  4.

Sometimes during the week  5.

Daily 40a.

When was the first time you tried cocaine?

 0.

Never (go to #41a)  1.

In the past 30 days  2.

More than 1 month ago, but less than 1 year ago  3.

More 1 year ago 40c.

With what frequency have you used cocaine?

 1.

Only once  2.

Sometimes in the past 12 months  3.


Sometimes during the month  4.

Sometimes during the week  5.

Daily 39b.

Have you consumed marihuana in the past 12 months?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #40a) 39d.

Have you consumed marihuana in the past 30 days?

 1.

Yes  2.

No 40b.

Have you consumed cocaine in the past 12 months?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #41a) 40d.

Have you consumed cocaine in the past 30 days?

 1.

Yes  2.

No 41a When was the first time you tried Hashish?

 0.

Never (go to #42a)  1.


In the past 30 days  2.

More than 1 month ago, but less than 1 year 41b.

Have you consumed Hashish in the past 12 months?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #42a) National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 79 - 41a When was the first time you tried Hashish?

 0.

Never (go to #42a)  1.

In the past 30 days  2.

More than 1 month ago, but less than 1 year ago  3.

More 1 year ago 41c.

With what frequency have you used Hashish?

 1.

Only once  2.


Sometimes in the past 12 months  3.

Sometimes during the month 42a When was the first time you tried crack?

 4.

Sometimes during the week  0.

Never (go to #42a)  5.

Daily  1.

In the past 30 days  2.

More than 1 month ago, but less than 1 year ago  3.

More 1 year ago 42c.

With what frequency have you used crack?

 1.

Only once  2.

Sometimes in the past 12 months  3.

Sometimes during the month  4.

Sometimes during the week  5.

Daily 41b.


Have you consumed Hashish in the past 12 months?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #42a) 41d.

Have you consumed Hashish in the past 30 days?

 1.

Yes  2.

No 42b.

Have you consumed crack in the past 12 months?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #42a) 42d.

Have you consumed crack in the past 30 days?

 1.

Yes  2.

No 43a.

When was the first time you tried other drugs?

 0.

I have never tried other drugs (go to #43a)  1.

In the past 30 days  2.


More than 1 month ago, but less than 1 year ago  3.

More 1 year ago 43c.

With what frequency have you used other drugs?

 1.

Only once  2.

Sometimes in the past 12 months  3.

Sometimes during the month  4.

Sometimes during the week  5.

Daily 43b.

.

Have you consumed other drugs in the past 12 months?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #43a) 43d.

Have you consumed other drugs in the past 30 days?

 1.

Yes  2.

No 44a.


When was the first time you consumed tranquilizers without medical prescription?

 0.

Never (go to #45a)  1.

In the past 30 days  2.

More than 1 month ago, but less than 1 year ago  3.

More 1 year ago Have you consumed tranquilizers 44b.

without medical prescription in the past 12 months?

44c.

Have you consumed tranquilizers without medical prescription in the past 30 days?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (go to #45a)  1.

Yes  2.


No (go to #45a) National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 80 - 44d.

In the past 30 days, how many days did you consume tranquilizers without medical prescription?

44e.

How did you have access to the tranquilizers you consumed?

Days  1.

From the doctor  2. in the street  3.

At home  4.

From a friend  5.

At the pharmacy  6.

Other 45a.

When was the first time you tried stimulants without medical prescription?

 0.
 0.

I have never consumed stimulants without medical prescription (Go to 46)  1.

In the past 30 days  2.

More than 1 month ago, but less than 1 year ago  3.

More 1 year ago 45b.

Have you consumed stimulants without medical prescription in the past 12 months?

45c.

Have you consumed stimulants without medical prescription in the past 30 days?

 1.

Yes  2.

No (Go to 46)  1.

Yes  2.

No (Go to 46) 45d.

In the past 30 days, how many days did you stimulants without medical prescription?
consume 45e.

How did you have access to the stimulants you consumed?

Days  1.

From the doctor  2. in the street  3.

At home  4.

From a friend  5.

At the pharmacy  6.

Other PREVENTION ACTIVITY (WORKSHOPS, COURSES, LECTURES) 46.

Have you participated in any drug prevention activity?

¨ 1.

I have not taken (workshops, courses, lectures) (skip to #49) ¨ 2.

Once ¨ 3.

Sometimes 47.

How would you rate the prevention activity in which you participated?

(workshops, courses, lectures) ¨ 1.


Very useful ¨ 2.

Useful ¨ 3.

Slightly useful ¨ 4.

Not useful ¨ 5.

Don’t know 48.

Have these activities changed your attitude about drugs?

(workshops, courses, lectures) ¨ 1.

A lot ¨ 2.

Little ¨ 3.

Not at all ¨ 4.

No answer ¨ 5.

I don't know National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 81 - THE NEXT QUESTIONS ARE ABOUT YOUR GENERAL WELFARE 49.

How would you rate your physical health ¨ 1.

Excellent ¨ 2.

Very Good ¨ 3.

Good ¨ 4.

Fair ¨ 5.

Poor 50.


Have you lost sleep over worry?

¨ 1.

A lot ¨ 2.

Little ¨ 3.

Not at all ¨ 4.

No answer 51.

What is your religion?

(examples; Catholic, Adventist, Baptist, Church of Christ, Anglican, Muslim, Hindu (etc.)

¨ 5.

I don't know _____________________________________________________________________________ 52.

How much confidence do you have in yourself to make decisions?

¨ 3.

Slightly Confident ¨ 4.

Not Confident ¨ 5.

Don’t know ¨ 1.

Very confident ¨ 2.


Confident 53.

Have you constantly felt that you are under stress?

¨ 1.

A lot ¨ 2.

Little ¨ 3.

Not at all ¨ 4.

No answer ¨ 5.

I don't know National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 82 - HOW OFTEN IN THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS HAVE YOU DONE THE FOLLOWING: 54.

Taken gifts from persons that you did not know ¨ 1.

Never ¨ 2.

1 to 2 Times ¨ 3.

3 to 5 times ¨ 4.

More than 5 Times ¨ 5.

Always 55.

Broken into a locked building other than your home ¨ 1.

Never ¨ 2.
Never ¨ 2.

1 to 2 Times ¨ 3.

3 to 5 times ¨ 4.

More than 5 Times 56.

Carried a weapon such as a gun or a knife 57.

Taken part in gang activities ¨ 5.

Always ¨ 1.

Never ¨ 2.

1 to 2 Times ¨ 3.

3 to 5 times ¨ 4.

More than 5 Times ¨ 5.

Always ¨ 1.

Never ¨ 2.

1 to 2 Times ¨ 3.

3 to 5 times ¨ 4.

More than 5 Times ¨ 5.

Always 58.

When you want to discuss issues, whom do you feel more comfortable talking to?
(Tick / check all that apply) Yes No Yes No 1 3 5 7 9 Father Stepmother Girl/Boyfriend Other relative Lives alone 2 4 6 8 Mother Stepfather Spouse Friend 10 Other _______ National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 83 - 59.
Answer the questions by placing a tick inside the box that best describes your opinion I BELIEVE THAT… Definitely Disagree Neither agree Definitely disagree agree or disagree agree It is okay for people my age to have sex It is okay for people my age to have sex with someone they have dated for a long time It is okay for people my age to have sex with someone they do not know very well Unprotected sexual activity may pose harm to my health People my age should use condoms if they have sex It is okay for people my age to say No to having sex My peers may not like me again if I have sex End of Questionnaire.
Thank you!

National Drug Council, Antigua 2005 - 84 -