 The Consultancy Firm Alliance and Consultants was contracted under the Equip Project to help develop a gender-sensitive policy and strategy for the prevention and reduction of alcohol and drug use among primary school children. High on the training agenda was the ability to identify students at risk and refer them for relevant treatment and counseling, as well as strategies aimed at schools and the community to help deal with any identified circumstances. Lead consultant of the Alliance of Consultants, Dr. Maurice Smith, says research conducted shows evidence of alcohol and drug use among primary school children in St. Lucia. I hasten to say that it was not a prevalence that was done, but we in fact interacted with about 100 kids and children in seven schools that the Ministry of Education identified. Our findings were such that we discovered that 8% of those children were exposed to drugs and other substances, and about 66% of them were engaged in the consumption of alcohol. So it's an emerging issue and we wanted to commend the Ministry for dealing with it here and now as opposed to waiting until the problem grew worse. Dr. Smith says children should be protected at all times from illicit and dangerous substances. However, he says it is the community and home circle, unfortunately, which are most times responsible for their exposure to those harmful substances. We also found that there were a number of cultural practices and norms. Many of the parents with whom we spoke, teachers, business leaders, church leaders, felt that in many instances in a number of communities, adults introduced alcohol to their children. So there were some norms that we found. We also found that there were some gaps in the policy and legislation. And so some harmonization would need to be done. The other big finding for us was that there were the institutional capacity issues. School counselors will play an important role in the developed policy. Coordinator of school guidance and counselling Joyce Lynn Eugene says most times a student is not identified unless they exhibit behaviors of being under the influence. She calls on parents in particular to be extremely cautious and vigilant. Even if the adult has made a choice to use, they have a responsibility to discourage their children from using alcohol. It should not be that the parent asks the child to light whatever it is that they are going to be smoking or to taste or pour the drink for them because they want it. These are things we know happens in the society, but it also creates an environment that can allow the child to get into the use of drugs and alcohol. Social transformation officer Danily Esteva, whose department benefitted from the training, says the sessions are timely, especially as her department is in the throes of developing a cadre of community stakeholders to provide psychosocial support for victims. Children who interact with drugs and alcohol at such an early age definitely have indications of psychosocial issues. Therefore amalgamating our experience and this training helps to further boost the protective factors for these children in the communities. Mrs Esteva says children have no place whatsoever dealing with drugs and alcohol and says everyone from the family setting to the wider community should play their part to ensure children are protected from the use of harmful and illicit substances. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Education Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, I am Chris Satney reporting.