HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has called on localities nationwide to actively implement the action month for drug prevention and control from June 1 to 30.

The action month, in response to the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26, focuses on protecting the young generation from drugs.

The PM asked for wide and deep information dissemination on the harmful consequences of taking drugs, particularly different kinds of methamphetamine, to raise public awareness on the issue, especially among the youth.

The Ministry of Information and Communications will guide mobile and Internet service providers to spread related information to users and to tighten control over the advertisement and trade of drugs via social networks and through other means on the Internet.

The media was instructed to diversify and increase its products relating to drug prevention and control.

The PM asked the Ministry of Public Security to guide relevant forces to speed up investigations and crack down on drug trafficking rings and those abusing the Internet and social networks to introduce, sell and encourage the use of drugs.

The Ministry of National Defence will work with the Ministry of Public Security to tighten monitoring at the border, the border gates, the international airports and the seaports to prevent drugs from being illegally transported into Việt Nam.

The PM requested the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to instruct localities to continue renewing drug detoxification methods and improve operational efficiency of drug detoxification centres.

Last year, for the first time in 20 years, the number of addicts nationwide fell from 204,000 to 200,000. Law forces discovered 19,517 drug-related cases and arrested more than 29,960 offenders. This was a decline of 9.7 per cent in the number of cases and a drop of  five per cent in the number of offenders compared with 2014. — VNS