Senior Colonel Nguyễn Văn Hậu, Deputy Director of the Investigation Police Department. Photo tiengchuong.vn

Senior Colonel Nguyễn Văn Hậu, Deputy Director of the Investigation Police Department, under the Ministry of Public Security, speaks to the Tiếng chuông (The Bell) - the website of the National Committee on AIDS, Drugs, and Prostitution Prevention and Control - on the need for strong co-operation from the political system and the people in the fight against drug trafficking

What has been achieved in the National Drug Control Master Plan from 2017 to June 2020?

The problem of crimes and drug addiction in the four years from 2017-2020 has been rather complicated.

In the four years under review, anti-drug forces nationwide have tackled 81,419 drug trafficking cases, arrested 124,167 criminals and seized some 20.4 tonnes of different kinds of drugs.

In the period, 162,225 drug addicts have been treated with methadone in rehabilitation centres, an increase of more than 10 per cent compared to the previous five years.

Are there any objectives that have not been achieved?

The five-year National Drug Control Master Plan laid down seven groups of targets – yet only five targets have been achieved. These five targets relate to mass communication, detection, handling crimes and reduction of planting poppy acreage.

However, the targets of reducing the number of drug addicts and communes/towns with addicts have not been achieved.

In the fight against drug addicts, we have set the three most important tasks – cutting the drug supply and drug demand and drug harm reduction. On average, each year we have detected more than 20,000 drug trafficking cases and arrested some 30,000 drug traffickers. In 2019, the volume of drugs seized by law enforcement officers was equal to the drug volume seized in the previous decade.

According to an official report, the number of drug addicts has increased some 5 per cent year-on-year.

Are there any new measures to be applied in the fight against drug trafficking/addiction?

I’m confident that if everyone joins in the fight together with the whole political system, I’m pretty sure we’ll win in the fight against drug trafficking/addiction.

In my opinion, in reality, drug crime is an economic crime. So, we should apply economic tools in this fight. We think that for many drug traffickers, money is more precious than their lives. So we need a legal document focusing particularly on the confiscation of seized drugs.

At present we are gathering comments/suggestions from concerned authorities/agencies in the course of developing the National Drug Control Master Plan for 2021-2025. We think this plan will be very important in the fight against drug trafficking/addiction in the upcoming five years. Furthermore, this National Drug Control Master Plan is a very important tool to make sure that Instruction 36 which was released on August 16, 2019, will be a driving force to ensure total success in the fight against drugs in Việt Nam.

Another point I want to emphasis is the mobilisation of on the spot resources in the course of implementing any project is of great importance besides resources coming from the central Government or local governments and others. VNS