The national strategy on drug control will focus on the role of the community.

Delegates from the Public Security Ministry and the Standing Office for Drug Control gathered in Hanoi on August 4 to give opinions on the national strategy on drug control through 2020 with a vision for 2030.

Participants proposed that the strategy’s social measures need to raise people’s awareness of the danger drugs pose to themselves, their families and their community.

They recommended improving strict punishment on drug crimes and building regulations for drug-fighting forces, as well as putting together a crack force to fight the social evil.

Meanwhile, the strategy’s political measures should apportion responsibility to party organisations as well as administrative and mass organisations to take a lead role in the fight against drugs.

Addressing the seminar, Sen. Lieut Gen. Le The Tiem, on behalf of the Public Security Ministry and the Board for formulating the strategy, said that such proposals will contribute to the draft strategy. A conference to assess the draft will be held in late August before submission to the Prime Minister for approval.

The drafting of the strategy began in June 2007 and this was the sixth seminar on the document.

Numerous senior officials from the party and government stated that fighting drugs was the duty of the entire party, people and the political system and an urgent, essential, short- and long-term task in the strategy on national security.

The current draft national strategy on drug control includes 14 programmes and projects, six action items and six groups of measures to reach three common goals and five detailed targets.

Under the draft strategy, Vietnam strives to reduce the rate of drug addition in the population by between 3-5 percent, annually. By 2020, 70 percent of the nation’s communes will have no drug addicts, all drug addicts will be listed and managed, 25 percent of drug addicts will be in detoxification centres, and all drug addicts in communes will be detoxified by the community./.