rp21 situational analysis - Pacific Health Voices

Situational analysis of drug and alcohol issues and responses in the Pacific
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16.2 Drug and alcohol
overview
Tuvalu was not included in the 2004–05
situational analysis of drug issues and responses
in the region. However, a delegate
from Tuvalu participated in the 2006 PDARN
meeting. A key informant noted that a recent
research report surveying 127 youths on risk
behaviours included data collection on drug
and alcohol use patterns. Just over 41 per
cent of respondents, mainly male, reported
consuming alcohol, with over half of those
consuming more than once a week. Amounts
per session varied from 1 to 24 cans (average
number of drinks is four cans, equivalent to
a ‘standard can of beer’). Only 15 of the surveyed
youths reported using marijuana and
none reported using heroin, cocaine, speed
or ice. Approximately 30 reported using the
Fijian variety of kava (yagona). 897
Occasional cases of cannabis being smuggled
into Tuvalu from Fiji are uncovered,
but very little other illicit drug use is
reported. 898 Tuvalu is not a signatory to any
of the counter- narcotics conventions. 899
The Ministry of Health is currently finalising
a Demographic Health Survey which
includes data on drug, alcohol and tobacco
use. No reported judgments related to drug
or alcohol cases are available for the period
1987–2008. 900 Tuvalu has an Alcohol and
Liquor Board Committee.
16.3 Illicit drug trends
The UNGASS 2008 report did not identify
any injecting drug use in Tuvalu, and therefore
no interventions. Seafarers are identified
as a high-risk group, but the reported risk is
associated with alcohol. 901
897 Key contact questionnaire, January 2009. Note: Fijian kava, commonly known as yaquona, is
also known as yagona, as described by the key informant for Tuvalu.
898 Ibid.
899 R. McCusker (2006), Transnational Crime in the Pacific Islands: real or apparent danger? Trends &
Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, no.308. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
900 Tuvalu legal cases, reported on the Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute website, available
at: (accessed March 2009).
901 Tuvalu National AIDS Committee (2008), UNGASS 2008 Country Progress Report: Tuvalu
(reporting period January 2006–December 2007). New York: UN General Assembly Special
Session on HIV/AIDS.