Specialists are shocked: traces of cocaine are found in almost all investigated Klaipėda schools
“Of course it surprised. A couple of years ago, cannabis was detected, and this year more cocaine was detected. We are thinking about what happened”, Rasa Baliutavičiūtė, head of Klaipėda Public Health Office, told LNK news.
This study was conducted during the darkest months of the year – January and February this year. Gymnasiums, pro-gymnasiums and vocational schools were tested, 28 institutions were inspected. And only one trace of drugs was not found.
“We took samples from the toilet, from surfaces: windowsills, beanbags in rest areas. We also tested classes”, said R. Baliutavičiūtė, head of the department of the Klaipėda Public Health Office.
Acting Director of the Drug, Tobacco and Alcohol Control Department Beautiful Belian LNK emphasized another aspect for information.
“What schools will do with this information is a very important point,” she stressed.
Member of the Seimas, representative of the ruling Freedom Party Morgana Daniele says that the results of the study do not reflect the schools, but the general situation of the city.
“The prevalence of cocaine in the port city has always been higher than in other Lithuanian cities,” she emphasized.
G. Belian, interim director of the Department of Drug, Tobacco and Alcohol Control, also drew attention to children’s trips to school.
“They ride the bus to school, they touch different surfaces, they go to the store, they get money, they come to school – maybe they wash their hands poorly, maybe they don’t wash them at all.” It touches the handles,” she said.
Although this study does not reveal whether teenagers really use cocaine, experts know that they are intoxicated with other substances.
However, Seimas member M. Danielė says that this has nothing to do with the drug mitigation policy.
“First of all, this law has not entered into force, it is still valid The Criminal Code, whose inefficiency we can see. It does not in any way determine the choice of young people, as the statistics of other countries show. This is not what determines a person’s choice to use or not – not the strictness of laws,” said the parliamentarian.
And in Vilnius, a renovated rehabilitation center for stumbling teenagers was presented on Monday.
“It happens that even 14-year-old children come with harmful consumption. This means that their use is harmful to life,” said the center’s specialist.
Lina Juškevičienė, the chairperson of the Child Welfare Commission of the Vilnius City Municipality, testified to this.
“We have teenagers, we have a lot of them – their age is getting younger. We observe that children also start using at the age of 10-11”, said the representative of the municipality.
Why do even young children get dizzy? According to specialists, due to loneliness and the desire to experiment.
“There is an inhumanly large amount of these substances, there are about 800 known new psychoactive substances. And what scares us professionals is that they are using substances that are opiate, which are very easy to get used to. One out of four people can become addicted after trying,” said social worker Emilija Kvieskaitė-Makovejeva.
Such children will be treated in the renovated rehabilitation center, which the first patients called the mansion.
“The child is evaluated by a psychiatrist. And if, according to the indications, it can be seen that he needs inpatient treatment or a day hospital, he already comes here with a referral,” said the head of the Children and Youth Rehabilitation Center Giedrė Misiūnienė.
Director of the Republican Center for Addictive Diseases Emil Subata LNK informed that such cases are very complicated.
“They get neglected, they need a lot of attention,” he said.
According to him, about 10 percent of fifteen-year-olds have tried cannabis.
The center will have an inpatient and a day inpatient facility. The service is free and anonymous.
“This means that there will be no data or records on esveikata.lt about the treatment here,” said the head of the Children and Youth Rehabilitation Center.
Help will be provided to teenagers aged 14-18, classes will also be held here, and services are also planned for parents.
In the fight against the desire of teenagers to become intoxicated, experts also speak about the contribution of law enforcement in preventing drug dealers.
See the full LNK report here: