A forty-week drug prevention campaign targeting 1,200 prison officers to create awareness on drug use among detainees, was launched on Monday morning by the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal, at the Prison Training School, in Beau Bassin. The Acting Commissioner of the Mauritius Prison Service (MPS), Mr Jaganaden Rungadoo, and the Director of Health Services, Dr Vijayesing Dinassing, were also present.
The event is part of a series of drug prevention activities being organised in the context of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, annually observed on 26 June.
In his address, Minister Jagutpal underlined that the Ministry is committed to building resilience to substance use among the population. Government, he also recalled, has pledged to combat drug consumption and drug trafficking in the country. He pointed out that as per the Integrated Biological and Behavioural Surveillance Survey of 2020, 6,600 persons were injecting drugs in Mauritius.
The National Drug Control Master Plan 2019-2023 was hence put in place with the objective to address a range of drug-related issues through an integrated approach, he said.
The Minister observed that annually, some 3,400 out of 7,000 prisoners, are linked to drugs due to a rise in drug trafficking, or crimes related to drugs such as money laundering and larceny. According to him, this figure is alarming since almost 50 percent of inmates have been incarcerated due to drug-related issues.
Moreover, Dr Jagutpal spoke of various initiatives put in place to curb the consumption of drugs and promote the rehabilitation of drug users. They are: introduction of Drug Prevention Programmes among vulnerable groups the youth and students under the Zone d’Education Prioritaire and in Correctional Youth Centres, Regional Youth Centres and Prisons; Youth Empowerment Programme Against Drug; and, Needle Exchange Programme.
A Drug Offenders Administrative Panel will also be set up and is expected to be a game changer in the combat against the drugs scourge and drugs abuse in Mauritius, and will facilitate the treatment and rehabilitation of people having substance use disorders, he added.
For his part, the Acting Commissioner of Prisons highlighted that the Prison Training School has a crucial role to play in the rehabilitation process of inmates. He lauded the significant contribution of prison officers in the control and detention of prisoners which is a very challenging and difficult task. Hence, the importance of providing capacity building programmes to prison officers to enable them to deliver in a more efficient manner, he indicated.
