Pubdate: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 Source: Vietnam News (Vietnam) Copyright: 2007 Viet Nam News, Vietnam News Agency Contact: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3935 VIET NAM PARTICIPATES IN INTERNATIONAL ANTI-DRUG DAY Thanh Hoa -- The ministries of Education and Training and Public Security, in co-ordination with the Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee, yesterday launched a campaign in honour of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking today. The campaign is aimed at calling all people, including the 23 million students nationwide, to respond to the UN slogan "Do drugs control your life? Your Life, Your Community. No Place for Drugs." The slogan will be used for three years for a campaign focused on different aspects of drug control: drug abuse in 2007, drug cultivation and production in 2008 and illegal drug trafficking in 2009. With this campaign, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) aims to raise awareness of the major problems that illegal drugs represent to society and mobilise support for drug control. Representatives of 10 provinces' education and training departments and 10 secondary schools in Thanh Hoa Province, on behalf of the nation's 23 million students, signed an action plan against drugs in schools for 2007-2010. On the same day, in Bac Giang Province, 1,200 students, men from the armed forces and youth volunteers and representatives from local offices and organisations took part in a campaign in honour of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The drug war The illegal trafficking of drugs will not be tolerated in Viet Nam, according to the message made by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordering ministries and localities to launch crackdowns between May 26 and September 26. According to the Ministry of Public Security, since 1997, police have uncovered more than 111,000 drug smuggling cases and arrested more than 190,000 people while confiscating caches of opium, heroin, marijuana, ecstasy and other banned narcotics. Anti-drug forces have also detected, tracked and broken up a bevy of transnational drug-trafficking rings, sending thousands of addicts to rehabilitation centres. According to the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee, drug-related crimes are entirely absent from over 4,000 communes and towns in Viet Nam, 47 per cent of the country's total. The Ministry of Public Security warns, however, that drug use and trafficking in Viet Nam more often than not are directly affected by regional and international trade, and drugs flowing into the country have yet to be fully eradicated. Meanwhile, the number of drug addicts continues to rise, and smuggling rings are becoming more sophisticated. Ministries and localities have been asked to closely observe the activities of restaurants, hotels and bars, including karaoke bars, in order to prevent drug use and trafficking. -- VNS - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom