concern about drugs/crime
 

Message: I would like to take my family (daughters 14&amp;17) to jamacia in April. I am thinking about the Negril area. I have been told by a number of people, that Jamacia is not a good place for families because of drug selling and other hassles. Should I look somewhere else?<BR><BR>

HI there, well, again with drug/crime, you have it everywhere in this world. I was recently in Negril, Jamaica, and on a resort, and had no problem whatsoever, everyone could not have been more friendly. On the beach, there was the occasional local who would ask if we wanted any &quot;ganja&quot;, and just tell them &quot;No, Thank You&quot;, and they usually leave you alone. I loved every minute of Negril, it is beautiful. Jamaica has beautiful people and beaches. From what I know, the Kingston area is somewhere to stay away from, which I believe is quite a distance from Negril. In fact we are planning our next trip to Negril and cannot wait.

I cannot recommend Negril/Kingston in Jamaica and Nassau in The Bahamas if you want to go with your children.

I've been to Negril a number of times. Just came back from a few days at White Sands (we spent New Years eve there). Negril is very safe, and kid friendly. You will have no problem with crime or drugs. People will try to sell you stuff on the beach (braids, trinkets, etc) and will sometimes try to sell you &quot;ganja&quot; - a polite &quot;no&quot; will do the trick... The beach in Negril actually seems safer now then at any other time I have visited (in the last 6 years) due to an visible increase in security there. <BR><BR>Now, if you want even less vendors and more seclusion - stay at the Bloody Bay side of the beach. This is the most lovely (and secluded) portion. Bloody Bay includes Riu, Couples, Grand Lido, and a number of other nice resorts. Point Village is also nice in this respect, as their location gives you much more privacy from the main beach.<BR><BR>Have Fun,<BR>Eric

I totally agree with Eric, I stayed at a resort located on Bloody Bay. Pretty quiet and relaxing! I know that Couples is a couples only resort (hence the name..lol), but the others that neighbor it, The Riu and Grand Lido, are also nice, any may be for families, I am not too sure on that but..check it out!

Can some of you please explain to me why you think that people offering to you sell you marijuana on the beach, where a &quot;polite no USUALLY means they'll leave you alone&quot;, constitutes a safe, appropriate environment for kids?<BR><BR>Obviously, drugs and crime exist to some extent everywhere, but there are other places in the Caribbean where the chances of this happening are much lower than in Jamaica.

Hey,I agree that drugs are definitely NOT okay, but they are everywhere...kids should be aware and taught at a young age, this is what this world has come to. In any BIG city, or even small for that matter there are drugs...When in Jamaica I , personally, am not a &quot;ganja&quot; smoker, and I was not hassled by anyone.

If your daughters are ages 14 and 17, then there is almost NO DOUBT that they have been exposed to illicit drugs, most probably at their schools. No offence intended, but they might even have &quot;inhaled&quot; due to peer group pressures that seem to abound in the schools today. No matter where you are or what country you are in.<BR><BR>Hopefully, as a responsible parent, you have brought your daughters up well and if offered ganja on a beach, you can politely say no, and use this as an educational opportunity for your children. You can't take a head-in-the-sand approach to drugs and pretend the problem does not exist..... ANYWHERE! ! !<BR><BR>Go ahead and enjoy your vacation and the educational opportunities that travel provides.<BR><BR>worldly.

Gotta agree with the last two posters. Drugs are everywhere. There are probably more drugs in you daughter's school than they will encounter in Jamaica. <BR><BR>Jamaica gets a bad rap for drugs, but if you are young and American, you will get offers anywhere you travel in the world. That has been my experience. I have gotten offers even in &quot;pristine&quot; places like the ABC islands(Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao). <BR>The reason you get offers is because so many young Westerners come to the Caribbean, especially Jamaica, looking for drugs. I don't know of a place that you could travel to and the possibility of being offered drugs would be non exsistant, except Disneyworld. Ever been on a train in Europe, have the train stop, and be completely searched by drug sniffing dogs? It happens all the time, yet Americans don't stop coming to Europe. <BR><BR>Negril is very cool. People are very nice and they don't hassle you. There is so much to do there. Give it a try.

We've taken our kids to Negril twice now, MoBay once (villa). Never had a problem. When we go without our kids and are walking down the beach, we are sometimes offered ganja. When walking with our kids (younger than yours, 4 and 7 at the time), no one approached us at all, out of respect, I assume, for the kids.<BR><BR>Our children love Jamaica...just playing on the beach and in the water, snorkeling, hiking waterfalls or cruising around...they always make friends with local and tourist kids they meet on the beach.<BR><BR>You can choose a resort or villa or most any hotel in Negril and any salespeople you might encounter will be on the public beach only, not on the grounds of your hotel.<BR><BR>One hotel we stayed at with our kids - Nirvana - has a beach guard who looked to us for a nod if we wanted a vendor to approach (sometimes we did...cheap fresh lobster, fruit, all kinds of stuff can come to your beach lounge if you want!)...otherwise they stayed away. That's not uncommon for hotels on the beach.<BR><BR>Most cliff hotels are completely private or allow non-guests in to eat but not onto the rooms area. Hassle there is zero.

Message: Anyone catch the Global Trekker show last night on Discovery? Ian Wright the host who has been to the ends of the earth and back seemed a little put out by his experience with his Jamaican trip.<BR><BR>I guess the highlight was when the taping crew had their money stolen from their hotel rooms. Great place..<BR><BR>

So,Ya Man, how many other threads have you posted this Ian Wright message in? Were you thinking this somehow advanced the discussion alan started?

Will Ian Wrights' show on Jamaica be on again, I wonder...I'd like to see it.<BR><BR>Re: getting money stolen...how did they get into the safe? Or did they skip the safe?

There's another special coming on later this month about my Grandfather having his money stolen in the nursing home. Fascinating story!!!!

Jamaica is the most crime-ridden Caribbean nation by a longshot.<BR>Anyone care to argue that this is untrue?<BR>If you intend to, please offer data to support your claim.

Marajuana gets a bad rap. Alcohol is as bad if not worse to take into your system. Marajuana is a convenient way for politicians and relegious groups to create unneccesary fear into people. Any drug used to the extreme is going to create negative effects on your system. Take too much morphine you will die. Take the right amount you can ease pain in terminally ill patients. If you have raised your children to a value system that you believe in than your children should be able to make positive choices for themselves.

&quot;Jamaica gets a bad rap for drugs?&quot; Are you serious? Puhleeze people. There is a WAR in Jamaica going on right now because of drugs! Its amazing to me how many millions of tourists to Jamaica are totally clueless as to the strife on that island. The MAJORITY of favorable reviews comes from the friendly CONFINES of the major resorts. With total ignorance to the REAL Jamaica. I feel sorry for the people of Jamaica; most are genuine and live a hard life and pay dearly for the corrupt government, drug trade, teenage thugs, and crime. Yeah it happens in the U.S. but were talking about an island the size of New Hampshire? with 3 million people who CAN'T get away from it!

I'm sorry its about HALF the size of NH.

Exactly my point. You have a substance that has a huge demand on it and it is illegal and unregulated therefore creating huge profit margins. People are not fighting over marajuana. They are fighting and killing over the money.

Poptart, sweetie, you need to do a little research before you post. You are so innocent!

You'd be better off to try another island like Antigua.

If you are going avoid Jamaica just because of someone (possibly) asking your daughters to buy some pot, you may as well pull them out of school as well. Sorry, but at 14 &amp; 17, they have definitely been exposed to pot already. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but kids in 5th &amp; 6th grade are smoking grass, and in some cases, even younger. So if you think your daughters haven't been exposed in some way to drugs in your own town, you need to wake up. Nothing is different in Jamaica, it's just another place that people smoke &amp; sell grass. If you feel you have raised your daughters with good values, making a decision based on pot is unwarranted. The only way to be COMPLETELY sheltered from drugs is to stay in your house, and never leave. Sounds ridiculous huh?<BR><BR>Go and enjoy the islands, and stop worrying about things you simply can't control. Just use the same discretion you'd use at home.

Barbara, are you saying that you won't be offered pot in Antigua. Now that's a laugh!

Jane, it's true that you could be offered marij. anywhere--we were even solicited in Hawaii but the chance of getting solicited OFTEN is much greater in Jamaica and frankly once you leave the resort you really don't feel that comfortable--I think Jamaica is not a great destination for families. Everyone has a different opinion. <BR>

This thing about not being able to leave the resorts in Jamaica and not being comfortable outside the resorts; speaking for myself, I have been to Jamaica at least half a dozen times and only on one of those occassions did I stay at a resort. The other times I stayed with friends, local Jamaicans, in Kingston, and in Montego Bay and it was wonderful. I felt at home!! And so, I cannot imagine spending time at a resort in Jamaica and spending 100% or 90% of that time behind the 4 walls of the resort. That would drive me mad, because the whole point of being in Jamaica or travelling anywhere away from home is to experience the place. On my last trip to Kingston, I spent time on my own, walking around new Kingston during the day, not once did I feel threatened or afraid for my well being. People were just going on about their business. In all of my trips, I cannot say that I have been offered weed or any other type of drugs but if I was, I can't say that I would be offended. I'd just say &quot;no thanks&quot; politely and calmly and move on. As far as I am concerned, your experience of Jamaica will be what you make of it. You have to keep your wits about you just as you would anywhere else in the world, no more no less. And I would recommend it to my friends anytime. It is a wonderful place, the people are wonderful, the local food is amazing, the culture is the best, it is great.

Enya,<BR>I agree totally.<BR>I have a theory about people who spread &quot;rumors&quot; about travel to various destinations they've never been to.<BR>It's kind of like an urban legend.<BR>Tell someone you're going to Mexico.<BR>The first words out of these people's mouths will be, &quot;YOU'LL GET SICK!&quot;<BR>Tell them you're going to Jamaica. <BR>You hear, &quot;A DRUGGED UP RASTA WILL ROB YOU,&quot; or &quot;YOU'LL BE OFFERED MARIJUANA!&quot;<BR>My theory is that these people have rarely traveled, and they are secretly envious of anyone who gets to go on an exotic vacation, so they come up with all the ways they can to make you worry about your trip so you can't enjoy it.<BR>The resorts want you to stay on the grounds (and spend $$$), so they say, don't leave the grounds - it's not safe.<BR>HOOEY!<BR>If you cannot enjoy the food and culture and beauty of the place you are visiting, save yourself a bundle of dough and go someplace you don't feel uncomfortable.<BR>Enya, I envy your Jamaican experiences. It sounds like you have had a fabulous time on the island :)

I've been to Jamaica numerous times - for weeks on end. I typically stay in smaller - non AI's, and eat at the local street-side restaurants. We walk around, take taxi's, and hang out with the locals. The Jamaican people are truly wonderful. They tend to be a bit on the shy side, and take a while to open up to you - take the time, as it is well worth it. They are very polite and hospitable, and have a sunny outlook and quick wit that is refreshing. You have to get away from the big resorts to expeience the best of Jamaica - you will find hard working honest people, far more in need of your dollars than the huge chains.<BR><BR>Fear of Jamaica is largely a fear of the unknown, and the hotels do perpetuate it. Riu (for example) will charge you $20 for a ride to downtown Negril - while you can walk out to the street and hail a cab for $3. The hotel will try to scare you into using their shuttle - since they want your money. <BR><BR>Don't believe these scare tactics. Get out and see the real Jamaica. <BR><BR>As for bringing your kids - yes... It will be a great experience. Jamacans their age tend to be very grown up. It would be interesting for you kids to meet some Jamaicans their own age. <BR><BR>I would suggest Treasure Beach or the Cliffs in Negril <BR><BR>Eric

There's a good article on traveling to Jamaica with teens here, the writer has a great sense of humor:<BR><BR>http://www.jamaicans.com/tourist/negril/taketeentonnegril.htm<BR><BR>...has anyone read Rum and Reggae's guide to Jamaica, by chance? There is a page on all-inclusives and &quot;fear of Jamaica&quot; that offers an interesting perspective...

<BR> <BR>I will ask again--<BR>Is there anyone at this website who will argue that Jamaica is not the most crime-ridden Caribbean nation by a longshot.<BR>That's a part of what the original poster was asking.<BR> <BR>

Not me.

Actually, it depends on if you mean crime in general, or crimes against tourists. Get your facts straight before you go shooting off your mouth...

Obviously I feel safe there...we're heading down ths spring for our 10th trip.<BR><BR>I'm not here to argue...I shared my opinion and experience and as far as I'm concerned, that's that. <BR><BR>If you want to share some crime statistics with the original poster, no one is stopping you.

My sentiments exactly Liza. John, you will keep requesting statistics about Jamaica's crime scene until you are blue in the face. No one is paying you any attendtion. And all the stats in the world would'nt change a thing about the fact that Jamaica is a wonderful place where fun loving people flock to in droves every year. You can blab all you want, it will never change MY mind about going there. You need to free up a little bit and learn to enjoy life some. Yes Jamaica has its fair share of problems. We all know that!! But why should that stop me from going there and enjoying the place and its people?? Some of the most incredible people I know are Jamaicans, professional people with whom I have studied with in college, some of them I work with, alot of them, we go back a long way, they are all people of excellence, people who are really making an impact and a difference in this world. And I am not talking about 1 or 2 Jamaicans. So you need to stop with the negativity and try to highlight the positive side of things. I am frankly quite tired of folks like you on this forum who seem to live for bringing down places and people. You really need to stop!!

Keep in mind that there might be several motives why people post crime statistics about various islands. People often seem to assume it is to scare people away. That could be, maybe they want to hurt a competing island. Or pehaps they want less tourist crowds so they can enjoy it to themselves. Or maybe they just like to watch the people who have some stake in the island jump through hoops trying to downplay the crime. Or maybe they just want people to be aware so that they are less likely to let down their guard. Or maybe a combination of all of these.

My husband and I honeymooned at Sandals Negril. <BR><BR>We flew into Montego Bay, took a small comuter flight to Negril and immediatly went to the resort and stayed put. We never saw anything. No poverty. No drugs. No crime. Nothing. It was a wonderful vacation. <BR><BR>If you are playing on staying at an all inclusive and not leaving the resort, its an excellent choice. I cannot write about what its like out in the country as I didn't experience that.

Better yet, stay at an all-inclusive and leave the restort from time to time.

I can't believe the apathy of so many of the responses...&quot;drugs are everywhere, so just get used to it&quot;?? Give me a break! Maybe the author not only wants to protect her teenagers, but show them that they would just rather stay away from (or just say no to) a place where drugs are rampant. They may be in schools and everywhere else, but there certainly are some mature children and teenagers who are aware of the dangers of drugs and who want to stay away! &quot;Politely&quot; say no? I would suggest screeming &quot;no&quot; at the top of my lungs! I don't think you will have the same problem in the Caymans or Bermuda.

Bobby Knight was once quoted as saying, &quot;well, if you're getting raped you might as well lay back and enjoy it&quot;.<BR><BR>Some of you people remind me of that kind of mentality.<BR><BR>&quot;Sure methamphetamine causes problems in society, but hey, it's a free world. Everyone should get to do as he or she wishes&quot;.<BR><BR>&quot;If fathers want to molest their daughters in the houses next door to mine, hey, that's their business. Besides, they're great neighbors&quot;.<BR><BR>&quot;Kids should have a broad base of experiences. I recommend taking your kids to inner city Detroit, Harlem and Tel Aviv for a few weeks so they can see that other people get along just fine despite their hardships&quot;.<BR><BR>What a bunch of pickleheads some of you people are. You'll all have to fight over the nickname Forrest Gump when registration starts.

There's a big difference between ganja and methamphetamine ! Actually, there's a big difference between booze and ganja... I'd much rather be offered ganja on the streets of JA, than booze, while stuck in some AI prison...

I agree, &quot;What a bunch of pickleheads some of you people are. You'll all have to fight over the nickname Forrest Gump when registration starts&quot;.