26 Sep 2003

American Samoa anti-drugs group concerned about smuggling

3:42 pm on 26 September 2003

An anti-drug group in American Samoa says drugs, such as marijuana and ice, which is a version of methamphetamine, are being smuggled in easily and growing in popularity among students.

The administrator of the Drug Free Programme in schools, Benjamin Tili, says its focus is to make young people aware of the damage drugs cause to the body.

He says the programme is to counteract the number of drugs entering the country and the ease of access to it.

"It's coming through the independent state of Samoa but with the upbeat training and awareness programmes that have been provided through the United States, there has been more attention to marujana being smuggled through here, and the ice problem coming through Hawaii."

Benjamin Tili.

This week, the US Department of Health and Human Services awarded a grant of almost 240 thousand US dollars to the government, to develop drug prevention programmes for youth.