The first ever Joint Meeting of the Inter-Governmental Task Force on Drugs and Ministers of National Security got underway on Wednesday 22 September at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat Headquarters with a challenge to Member States to mount integrated programmes involving punishment, prevention, and rehabilitation, to battle the growing trade in illicit drugs in the Region.

Speaking at the opening of the joint two-day meeting Jamaica's Minister of National Security and Justice who is also chairman of the Task Force, the Hon. Mr. Keith D. Knight said that "members should look to methods of rehabilitation of offenders rather than mere punishment." Pointing to this as an important factor in the war against drugs, the Minister expressed pleasure at the European Union's involvement in providing funds for treatment and rehabilitation.

With regard to prevention, Mr. Knight said that efforts should be redoubled to ensure that the minds of young people are captured and that traditional values are inculcated in them. He noted that the drug scourge was also a threat to health and well-being, legal institutions, security, and ultimately sovereignty. Describing the problem in the Region as a crisis, he told participants that the Region's co-ordinated response and action must continue.

Adding support to this call was Guyana's Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. Samuel Hinds who said that the greatest cooperation and coordination should be established at the bilateral, sub-regional, regional, and extra-regional levels. The Hon. Prime Minister mentioned that the relationship with regional partners is an essential aspect of CARICOM's response mechanism to reduce both the demand and supply of narcotics, and specifically welcomed to Guyana, the representatives of the United Nations Drug Control Programme, the European Union, and the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Programme (UNDCP). He reported that some 390 metric tonnes of cocaine transit the Region annually to North America and Europe (according to UNDCP statistics).

Deputy Secretary-General of CARICOM, Dr. Carla Barnett in her remarks, pointed out that equal efforts should be made to reduce the demand for narcotics in major consuming countries even as some may wish the Region to concentrate its energies and resources on controlling the flow of narcotics through the Caribbean. Dr. Barnett also supported the call for integrated programmes encompassing education and rehabilitation to help reduce and eliminate the drug scourge. She noted the cooperation that had been generated between developed and developing countries in the fight against the illicit trade, and expressed CARICOM's gratitude for the support from the European Union particularly France and Great Britain, the United States of America, the United Nations Drug Control Programme, and the Inter-American Commission on Drugs.

The meeting focuses on matters relating to money laundering, maritime cooperation, forensic services, the treatment and rehabilitation of drug users, a regional witness protection programme, and drug control coordination and cooperation with other agencies and organisations.