Deputy PM calls for assistance to drug users

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam called on people to eliminate stigmas on drug users and assist them to integrate into the community at a meeting celebrating the 2015 Action Month for Drug Prevention and Control in Vinh Yen city, northern Vinh Phuc province on June 19. 

Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam speaking at the meeting.
Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam speaking at the meeting.

Vietnam’s youth need to join hands for more meaningful actions, including keeping themselves, families and friends off drugs and helping drug addicts to return to normal lives, Dam said.

He also asked the business community to give drug users and those in drug detoxification opportunities to have jobs and integrate into the community.

Addressing the meeting, Christopher Batt, chief of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vietnam noted that drug trafficking and abuse creates negative impacts on the development and stability of countries in the world.

The UNODC will work with Vietnam to build effective medical treatment methods in line with the law to deal with the issue of depending on drugs, he added.

The 2015 action month is being held under the slogan “The community join hands to help drug users”, which affirms that drug prevention and control requires combined efforts among ministries, sectors and the whole community, in order to find solutions for sustainable integration for drug detoxicators.

Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen hailed the community’s sincerity and intimacy as an impetus for drug users to stop their addiction and integrate into the community.