THE Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap) yesterday conducted another surprise drug test in one of the city’s villages, this time, in Barangay Buhisan.
Dr. Alice Utlang, Cosap chief, said a total of 71 barangay officials and workers were subjected to the test. Of the 71 who took the test, one of them, who is reportedly an applicant for a barangay garbage loader, tested positive for drugs.
However, Utlang, in an interview yesterday, said they did not consider the concerned person to be part of the barangay’s workforce as the latter was not yet officially hired.
Utlang said the man went to the barangay because he thought there was a barangay orientation that he needs to take before he will be hired.
Because of the test result, Utlang said the barangay decided not to hire him anymore.
Barangay Buhisan, however, could not yet declare the barangay as “drug-free” because there was a member of Lupon Tagapamayapa who failed to take the drug test yesterday.
“Kailangan gyud tanan employee ang ma-test (All employees should take the test) before we can declare them drug-free. What we did is not a random testing,” she said.
Utlang said her office has instructed the barangay to ask the lupon to go to Cosap’s office located at the City Health Department so he can take the drug testing.
As of 5 p.m. yesterday, Utlang said the Lupon has not yet showed up at her office.
Utlang said Buhisan, which is the 20th barangay that Cosap conducted a surprise drug test, is supposed to be the fifth barangay in the city to be declared drug-free.
Those that have already been declared drug-free are Barangays Pulangbato, Taptap, Talamban and Agsungot.
Syringes
Meanwhile, Utlang said Cosap is objecting to the move of Cebu Plus, a non-government organization, to distribute syringes to injecting drug users in the barangays.
The move of Cebu Plus seeks to lessen the number of cases of human immunodeficiency virus cases among injecting drug users.
Utlang said the distribution of syringes would encourage the public to use drugs.
