Public Safety Commissioner Edward Camacho says police officers are monitoring juveniles who are abusing butane.
Camacho told reporters that aside from conducting surveillance at places frequented by tourists, police officers are also on the lookout for butane-sniffing minors.
“I walk and jog around Beach Road area, and on the side of the pathway I saw all kinds of empty butane cans. I don’t know whether they are from our juveniles or some picnickers just leaving them behind,” Camacho said.
He said throwing the cans is littering. Further, their presence in public areas may contribute to the delinquency of minors, he added.
“So we’re picking those things up too. It could be evidence. It’s very sad,” he said.
Camacho earlier expressed alarm over the butane abuse problem among minors.
He said he would push for a “stronger” law to address the butane abuse problem which, according to him, has become an epidemic in the CNMI.
Over the past few months, many juveniles were caught sniffing butane.
Just last week, a boy stole two cans of butane from his neighbor and sniffed the substance at a farm in Chalan Laulau.
