Styrofoam ‘being used in drug abuse’

THE prevalence of a new habit in Barbados’ drug culture has prompted Minister of Youth and People Empowerment Adrian Forde to welcome the banning of the use of Styrofoam in Barbados.

Forde a pharmacist, said yesterday the plastics ban was important since the styrene content in Styrofoam was being used to enhance their high on the recreational drug Lean.

“We have youngsters in Barbados using Lean, a mixture of codeine linctus, sprite and a sweety substance. They are using double Styrofoam containers as a way of allowing the styrene to seep into the actual product to “synergise the product when it is being used,” Forde explained in the House of Assembly yesterday.

Making his contribution to debate on the Crown Lands (Vesting and Disposal) Act Colleton Plantation, Forde, the parliamentary representative for Christ Church Central, told Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, Kirk Humphrey who instituted the ban on single-use plastics effective July 1: “You are able to kill two birds with one stone, because in the same way you are trying to rid this place of plastic, I am saying to you the petro-based Styrofoam is being used for another purpose. So the ban of the styro-based containers not only helps to protect our planet, but it avoids us having to deal with our young people who are using them to get an additional high.”

Lean, also known in the hip hop world as Sizzurp, Dirty Sprite or Purple Drank is said to have become Rap’s most wanted drug. It has been popularised in the American hip-hop culture with famous rappers drinking and featuring it in their music videos.
Forde appealed to his colleagues to engage young people on the block in new community construction projects as artisans and labourers.

Forde highlighted issues of poverty and hunger and lack of shelter which more Barbadians are facing and he touted the idea of family and community cohesion as a means of alleviating such problems. (GC)