Trinidadian Drug Users Perceptions of the Link Between Their Drug Use and Other Criminality

Trinidadian drug users’ perceptions of the link between their drug use and other criminality

Gisselle Stephen-Phillips

Graduate Student

M.Sc (Criminology and Criminal Justice)

Drug Education Officer (Ministry of Social Development N.A.D.A.P.P)

And

Dr. Terence Bartholomew

Senior Lecturer

M. Sc. (Criminology and Criminal Justice)

University of the West Indies

St. Augustine.

Paper submitted for presentation at the SALISES Conference, September 25th – 26th 2008 entitled “Development Challenges in the 21st Century”

Key Words: drug use, drug-crime nexus, gate way drug theory, poly drug use.

Trinidadian drug users’ perceptions of the link between their drug use and other criminality

Abstract

Trinidad and Tobago is located within the hub of the major drug trans-shipment routes. In recent years, the country has witnessed an unprecedented upsurge in illicit drug use, violence and other crime, and many commentators and theorists have postulated about the nature of the link between these societal problems. In an effort to contribute to this scholarship, the authors conducted a research project that examined the experiences and perceptions of a sample of twenty Trinidadian drug users who were residing in a residential treatment center. The study examined participants’ thoughts about their trajectories into serious drug use and other crime, various aspects of the drugs / crime nexus, and tested the applicability of the ‘Gateway’, ‘Social Process’ and ‘Differential Association’ theories of drug use.

The major findings of this study will be reported and include information about: the age of onset, the process of acquiring drugs, reasons for starting and expanding usage, the widespread tendency for poly drug use, the trajectories that support gateway theories, and links between drug use and other forms of crime. The paper concludes with some data driven implications for intervention.

Contact:

Gisselle Stephen-Phillips

Drug Education Officer (Ministry of Social Development N.A.D.A.P.P)

Tel # 740-6240 (c), 627-3527 (w)

Email: