NARCOTICS-ST. LUCIA: Rastas Say No to Random Drug Testing Proposal

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Patrick Smikle

CASTRIES, May 3 1998 (IPS) - The 16-year old student walked into the principal’s office at Vieux Fort Comprehensive Secondary School. He locked the door preventing Dr. Morella Joseph’s escape. And while an accomplice kept watch, he attacked her with a machete.

By early the next morning the St. Lucia police had both the assailant and his ‘lookout’ in custody. Subsequent investigations pointed to the involvement of at least four other students. All six were members of the “Killer Crew”.

On the day of the attack Joseph announced action against gang and drug related activity at the school. Her attacker had just returned from suspension for suspected drug involvement.

The incident appeared to bring some light to the heated, divisive, debate about how to deal with an increase in violent, apparently drug- related crime in this Eastern Caribbean island. There was a consensus that the attacker should be charged and treated as an adult.

There was agreement that the ‘Drug Dons’ and their ‘pushers’ were targeting schools and this was where the country had to take a stand. The children, both the innocent and those who had already become involved, had to be protected from the drug criminals.

There was a mass demonstration in which placard bearing teachers, students, community leaders, business people and politicians marched in unanimous protest against crime and violence and called for measures to tackle the problem.

That was the easy part.

The difficult part has been to reach a consensus on the measures. Measures such as more training for the police, stepped up police presence at schools, stiffer sentences for drug-related crimes and random weapons searches at schools have generally been accepted, though some people have questioned how much of an impact they will have.

The most contentious measure has been a proposal by Education Minister, Mario Michel that there be random drug testing of students. That has led to a howl of protest with the loudest objection coming from the Rastafarian community.

The Nyabinghi Order of Ras Tafari condemned the proposal.”Drug testing does not go to the root of the problem of violence and indiscipline in schools, and to tackle the problem from that perspective is prejudicial to Ras Tafarian children, even while it allows the real problems unattended,” says spokesman, Ras Wisely Tafari.

Of particular concern to the Nyabinghi Order is the element of the proposal which calls for children who test positive, to be given ‘turning point counselling.’ Wisely worries that his counselling would be a way of “indoctrinating Rastafarian children away from their religion and their culture.”

Like all other children, Rasta children are under the control of their parents, he notes. To counsel them against the use of marijuana, would be to counsel them against something which their parents had not taught them was wrong.

Wisely has been taken to task in an unsigned column in the weekly St. Lucia Mirror. The writer said the debate had created an opportunity to begin a discussion in St. Lucia about relaxing the laws against marijuana. However, while it remained an illegal substance, the law must be enforced.

“If the Rastas believe that the consumption of marijuana by them and their children is a divine right, they must, as it stands now, be prepared to take responsibility for the legal consequences of that belief,'” ran the column.

Another Rastafarian organisation, the National Advisory Council on The Advancement on Ras Tafari (NACAR) says the proposed drug testing will be “prejudicial to the fundamental human rights [of Rastafarians to use marijuana as a religious sacrament, as a medicinal herb and condiment.”

It dismisses as “simplistic, inhumanitarian and unconscionable,” arguments pointing out that under the laws of St. Lucia, marijuana was illegal. “Marijuana is not the problem,” a statement from the Council declared.

“Elimination of marijuana is not the panacea for indiscipline, crime and violence.”

The problem, as the Rastafarians see it, is “moral decay” and the solution lies in some sort of spiritual awakening.”The truth is that several generations have grown up in this country where a certain brand of rum is ‘The Spirit of St. Lucia’, commercial dishonesty passes as business acumen, sexual abuse is macho and professional lack of ethics is rewarded,” the NACAR said. “This society needs a moral purging.”

In calling for a moral rebirth, the Rastafarian community finds itself in predictable company. “There is a lack of deep spirituality in the nation,” Roman Catholic Priest, Monsignor Theophilus Joseph told IPS.

“And whenever the spirituality is lacking and people cannot turn to God they turn on each other.” But Monsignor Joseph, who chairs the St. Lucia Christian Council, an umbrella grouping of traditional denominations, stops short of defending the Rastas right to use marijuana. And he is even more noncommittal on the issue of drug testing for students.

The Education Minister’s proposal has the conditional support of management consultant Dr. James Fletcher. “School related gangs and violence in schools are serious problems. The situation is worsening and has alarmed those who weren’t aware of how serious it was,” he told IPS.

“The drug dealers have now infiltrated the school system and are using some of the students.”

Fletcher, an independent and respected commentator on St. Lucia affairs, acknowledged that the proposal for drug testing was drastic and that parents had reason to be concerned. But he noted that the government had a responsibility to protect the innocent and to ensure that the problem did not get any worse.

“The proposal needs to be viewed in the broader context of what the government is trying to do to protect those students from being victims of violence and drugs from some of their peers who might be involved in drug trafficking,” he said.

Broadcast journalist and human rights activist, Albert Deterville is the most vocal non-Rastafarian opponent of the drug testing proposal. “Random testing is discriminatory, arbitrary, violates the privacy of the individual, violates the right to personal liberty and violates the individual’s right to be treated as a human being,” Deterville warned the government.

He has stated that no one has the right to test any juvenile without the written consent of a parent or legal guardian. He has urged parents to resist the proposal.

As the debate rages the government has given no indication of whether it will press ahead with the proposal. And if a recent interview with the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary, Claudius Francis is any indication, the administration will allow the discussion to percolate some more before taking a decision.

“This is not a government policy but merely a proposal floated by the Minister of Education,” Francis told IPS. “To move ahead on to there would have to be a national debate and ultimately legislation.”

Last week Governor General Dr. Pearlette Louisy delivered the Throne Speech which outlines the government’s policy and legislative priorities for the next 12 months. And while measures to deal with violence and drug related crime was near the top of the list, there was no mention of drug testing for students.