War on drugs to protect pupils
( 2001-06-26 00:44 ) (9 )

The potentially-fatal consequences of dabbling with drugs could become part of pupils' everyday schooling if new proposals discussed Monday are implemented.

A whole range of related issues were discussed at a seminar Monday in Beijing to tie in with today's International Day for Narcotics Control. Officials from educational and public security departments attended the event.

They called on the Law Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and NPC Internal and Judicial Committee to work out regulations to support long-term drug prevention activities.

To keep teenagers away from drugs, the proposal suggests that the Ministry of Education interweave anti-drug education into compulsory courses among primary and middle schools.

Schools should also open regular lectures to inform students of drugs' fatal harm by introducing specific examples, the proposal said.

It stated that regional governments should hold regular anti-drug shows in urban and rural residents' communities.

The proposal asked public securities, household working committees and drug addicts' families to set up anti-drug groups in a bid to clamp down on the problem.

In a message to the conference, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Wu Jieping, said scientific and educational sectors should circulate widespread drug-prevention ideas among citizens and teenagers.

Statistics from the United Nations indicate that 50 million people in the world take drugs, more than half of them aged between 15 and 35.

He said China must intensify anti-drug campaigns as drug abuse cases are not rare.

Statistics indicate that the country has 860,000 drug addicts scattered across 2,080 prefectures and cities.

Wang Wenyuan, vice-chairman of the national committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said drug addicts take drugs for various reasons including curiosity, frustrations in work, marriage and life.

He called on relevant departments to educate drug users through sustained psychological and law counsel services to spur them to bid farewell to drugs.

At yesterday's conference, 10 drug centres in Beijing, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Fujian, Hubei, Guangdong, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces were honoured for their excellent work with addicts.