The Interior Ministry has adopted preventive programs to reduce the drug problem in the Kingdom, according to Assistant Director-General of Anti-drug Preventive Affairs Abdul Ilah Al-Sharif.
“The preventative programs are not limited to making addicts more aware to decrease and stop them from taking drugs, but they are designed to make society more aware of the dangers of drug promotion and the effect they have on the lives and futures of youth,” Al-Sharif said.
Al-Sharif noted that the General Directorate for Narcotics Control, in partnership with the General Presidency for Youth Welfare, recently organized one of the most important forums this year, and made many recommendations in this regard.
The forum included former addicts with the presence of Imam of the Grand Mosque Sheikh Maher Al-Mueaqly and faculty professors from King Abdelaziz University in Jeddah, Imam Mohammad bin Saud University, King Saud University in Riyadh and those from different hospitals in the Kingdom.
Al-Sharif said the forum, held in Jeddah, made important recommendations.
He said the drug problem must be seen as the responsibility of the community as a whole and called on government agencies and civil society institutions to work together in a bid to implement the awareness and preventative programs using all modern technologies and new media.
He pointed out that these came through in the recommendations made by the forum related to creating plans associated with awareness and prevention and to benefit from those who already carried such national programs.
Al-Sharif said that there is need to partner the universities and medical clinics in the Kingdom to create such programs to achieve joint action as part of a national strategy to fight drugs. He added it’s important for civil institutions to make pupils and families more aware of fighting drugs.
Govt focuses on drug awareness programs
