In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong said that to make the public fully aware of the harmful effects of drugs to health and the country’s development, the State and Party have issued Law on Drug Prevention and Control. The Government has developed a national plan and programme on drug prevention and control and considers it a task for the whole political system and the people.

Over the past few years, he said, Vietnam has achieved many positive results in drug prevention such as cracking down on drugs rings and providing detoxification to tens of thousands of drug users. However, drug prevention and control activities are very irregular.

Deputy PM Trong asked all ministries, departments, local authorities and individuals, especially students and pupils to fight against drug-related crimes, upgrade methods of detoxification and help people that have finished detoxification to re-integrate into the community.

On behalf of the United Nations in Vietnam, Narumi Yamada announced the UN General Secretary’s message on International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The message marks the centenary of drug control across the globe. It underlines that drug-related crimes threaten the security of many countries, so all UN member countries must fully follow the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and the UN Convention Against Corruption to fulfill the Millennium Development Goals.