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Last Updated: Feb 6, 2017 - 2:32:04 PM |
 In
an initiative promoted by the Organization of American States (OAS), 40
judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, treatment providers and other
professions in the healthcare and justice fields in Trinidad and Tobago,
Jamaica, Barbados, The Bahamas, and Grenada will be trained this week
in Canada on the workings of Drug Treatment Courts (DTCs), a model that
proves to be an effective measure as an alternative to incarceration for
violators who are addicted to drugs.
“The OAS is supporting the
model of Drug Treatment Courts in the hemisphere as an effective and
efficient tool to treat violators who are addicted to drugs and achieve a
reduction in drug consumption, lower crime rates and help to reduce the
criminal population in the region,” said Ambassador Paul Simons,
Executive Secretary of the OAS Inter-American Commission for Drug Abuse
Control (CICAD).
The project, by the CICAD and the Canadian
Association of Drug Treatment Court Professionals (CADTCP), began today
and will conclude Friday, March 2, in the city of Toronto. The CICAD and
the CADTCP are in the process of signing a cooperation agreement that
will allow this effort to continue over the next two years. Various
members of the hemispheric Organization already have a calendar of
activities for the start of pilot projects in this modality.
The
seminar is divided into two parts, and in the first half of the week
participants will attend a practical training program that includes a
visit to a DTC. The more than forty Caribbean delegates will be taught
based on a real case, and later will visit healthcare institutions for
people with drug addictions where they will have the opportunity to
observe the treatment protocol used. Afterwards they will have
first-hand experience of a real session before a hearing, where cases
are followed up on and progress is evaluated.
In the second half
of the week, the delegates will attend the Fourth Conference of the
CADTCP, where they will have the opportunity to present the problems
they face, as well as attend workshops on the subject. In this workshop
visit the delegates will be able to interact with hundreds of experts
from Canada in the different areas that participate in a DTC.
More information is available here.
© Copyright 2012 by thebahamasweekly.com
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