On July 3rd, the National Youth Parliament Association of Antigua and Barbuda will let their voices be heard on a major issue plaguing not only the country but the world, the misuse and abuse of drugs- marijuana, tobacco among minors.

President of the NYPAB Jessica Zouetr explained why this topic was chosen for the next sitting.

“So, the process itself is that every year at our annual general assembly meeting, we have our youth MPs propose topics, and they pitch these to the general assembly, and then a vote is done. Once the vote is done, then we get the two most voted become the actual topics for the legislative agenda for the upcoming year and so Mr. Chrysean Javis would have proposed the idea of an amendment of the Misuse of Drugs Act, because he realizes that the abuse of drugs and not only cannabis use, but also tobacco use and other drug use has been seen on the increase within young persons.

“We thought that this was a lively issue that needed to be tackled and so we have brought it towards our parliament with the young people discussing it,” Zouetr detailed.

Jarvis, who is also the MP for St. Johns City South and Prime Minister further spoke on the new bill.

“Our stance is to more so propose a change. That’s where we want to start, because, yes, it is on paper that it is illegal for minors to be in possession of cannabis. However, the enforcement of such is quite lacking. So, my administration, which includes my attorney general, will be putting forward recommendations to how we could enhance the enforcement and to see a reduction in cannabis, marijuana, tobacco and any other substances to see a holistic reduction,” Jarvis stated.

Legal reforms like punish for adults who supply substances to the minors and “creating a fully funded and resourceful, more so adequate rehabilitation program for younger persons” will be brought to the table.

“So rather than us sticking to the general ministries, we actually did some experiments and research, and we actually mixed some of them.  So, one that I’m very passionate about is Ministry of Health, Digital Literacy and Media Awareness, something of that sort and that is basically to highlight how can social media, how does the media in itself influence these type of activities within our young people.

“You have music videos, we know we have influential artists, the songs being listened to, what are our children being exposed to on the media? So, it’s more so a twofold way where we educate the young people as well as educate the parents on how they can go about monitoring what their child is exposed to,” Jarvis added.

The sitting begins at 9:30 a.m. at Parliament.