Kreetika Kumar 
Vilisimani Rakikau
A growing number of young females are being reported in relation to drug-related cases and primary school students are now involved in the illicit trade, sparking concerns by authorities.
Substance Abuse Advisory Council’s Specialized Alcohol Abuse Disorder Counsellor Vilisimani Rakikau says drug and alcohol abuse cases have started emerging from as early as the primary school level, as well as year nine in secondary school.
Rakikau says the change in trend highlights the urgency needed to address the issue.
He says the involvement of a growing number of young females and primary school children being referred to counseling for drug-related cases should send alarm bells ringing.
“Before we only received cases of males that have been referred because of drug cases. But now the numbers of females are coming up. So there’s a new trend that is coming up now where girls are involved with a group of students. Sometimes it has ranged from one particular individual that has been referred to ten. Ten coming in at once have been referred from a particular school where they’re doing this stuff in gangs. They’re doing it some; they’re doing it in five; some are doing it in nine and ten cases that we receive from different schools”
Rakikau says the cases involving students participating in drug-related activities was mostly in groups, ranging from smaller clusters to larger organized gangs.
He believes that teachers need to be empowered to look after the students while they’re in school, given the new trend.
