Non-Profit: The National Drug Council

This column features a non-profit organisation (NPO) registered in the Cayman Islands. If you’d like your charity to be considered for this column (which means free publicity!) please register your charity as an NPO with General Registry by 31 July 2018.

Negating the impacts of drugs on the Cayman Islands is what drives the National Drug Council (NDC).

The NDC is an independent statutory body set up under The National Drug Council Law (2010 revision). The functions of the NDC are varied and includes primary responsibility for the development, implementation and delivery of substance abuse prevention activities; design and administration of survey and research initiatives as it relates to substance abuse and misuse in our communities; and the facilitation of monitoring and evaluation activities throughout programmes.

We continuously monitor the situation as it relates to substance misuse and abuse in the Cayman Islands; with the aim of formulating drug prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation policies and programmes.

This monitoring takes place via ongoing research and the maintenance of data collected by stakeholders.

Our findings are communicated to the Minister responsible for the NDC. As of June 2017, the NDC has been aligned with the Ministry of Health, Environment, Culture and Housing under the direction of the Hon. Dwayne Seymour.

We are advocates for the development, review and revision of legislation and laws related to drug abuse and misuse.

In addition, we participate in discussions as they relate to drug prevention and rehabilitation policy and programme development; and we support demand and supply reduction measures relating to the misuse of drugs, alongside the Ministry.

A big part of the NDC’s mandate is educating the public, particularly children and youth on the impacts and the issues related to tobacco, alcohol and other drug misuse and abuse with the primary goal of reducing the related negative impacts.

Examples of our youth initiatives across the Cayman Islands include over 500 presentations to youth in our schools and communities in the past year, and our local Youth 2 Youth chapter, which is an internationally recognised programme.

We continue to advocate for the establishment of a system to coordinate the treatment of drug abusers and the care of persons associated with drug abusers.

Among the training initiatives offered by the NDC is the Training for Intervention Procedures (TIPS), which aims for members of the service industry to practice acceptable standards for serving and selling alcohol.

In 2017 the NDC established its first ever office in Cayman Brac which is staffed with a full-time employee providing services to schools, stakeholders and community groups throughout the Sister Islands.

To learn more about the NDC, visit www.ndc.ky or email info@ndc.ky.

For more information on NPOs, please contact General Registry by emailing paul.inniss@gov.ky.