Consultant Psychiatrist at the Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU) at the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital (DCFH), Dr Nadia Wallace, is calling on Dominica and the wider Caribbean to consider raising the legal age for marijuana and alcohol use among young people.
Her call came as the APU observed Health Week recently.
“Recently we heard in the news that Trinidad has moved to increasing the age at which, you know, persons are allowed to smoke and drink,” she said. “ I think this is something that Dominica and even the other countries in the region should look into doing, because by doing that, increasing the legal age for smoking and drinking, because it’s not just marijuana.”
She continued, “Alcohol also has a psychoactive component, and it can also contribute to persons having psychosis. So I believe we should really seriously focus on, you know, taking a page from what Trinidad is doing and see if we could increase the legal age for the use of marijuana. I know for alcohol [it] is 18. I am not sure if we have one for Dominica.”
Dr. Wallace said that if Dominica moves in that direction and increases the age to at least 23 to 25, the individual’s brain would have more time to develop.
“And when persons smoke marijuana, because the brain is more developed, it will be less vulnerable to the effects of the THC [Tetrahydrocannabinol ],” she explained. “ I think we really need to look in that direction.”
