Youth leaders recruited in Phuket anti-drugs campaign

A total of 100 young adults from 13 to 29 years old have been selected to take part in various activities over three days, from Dec 14-16, as part of their training to help prevent drug problems in their areas.

The project is a joint campaign by the Phuket Provincial Administration Office, headed by the Phuket Governor; the Phuket Provincial Defense Committee; the Center for Non-formal Education and Informal Education in Phuket; and all three District Offices on the island.

The campaign aims to help build “immunity” against drugs in communities and strengthen the family unit with participants from throughout the communities themselves, explained Phuket Vice Governor Anupap Rodkwan Yodrabam at the Center for Non-formal Education and Informal Education in Phuket Town on Tuesday (Dec 14).

The project, titled ‘Village/Community Network Project Against Drug Abuse’, is in line with the national government’s policy to reduce the severity of the drug problem, Vice Governor Anupap said.

The Department of Provincial Administration, under the Ministry of the Interior, has been assigned to prevent drug use among people of at-risk age, he said.

“The community has become aware of the drug problem, and this aims to reduce and prevent new drug-related cases,” he added.

Present for the event on Tuesday was Lt Gen Natthaphong Yanothaikhachit, Deputy Director of the Phuket branch of ISOC (Internal Security Operations Command), which serves as the political arm of the Thai military.

Akara Suwattikul of the Phuket Provincial Defense Office that the ‘2023 Drug Prevention and Suppression Action Plan’ entailed six main strategies, including international cooperation,

suppression and law enforcement, drug use prevention, treatment and a slew of integrated projects with a total of 41 “approaches”, comprising 63 action plans in total.

“The Department of Provincial Administration is focusing driving solutions to the drug problem and reducing the severity of the problem according to the national strategy to lead to actual results,” Mr Akara said.

“‘Thai society is safe from drugs’ is a framework for managing, coordinating, allocating resources and supervising, monitoring and evaluating all agencies involved in transforming the drug prevention and suppression action plan of 2023. into clear and concrete action,” he said.