Government Launches National Drug Awareness Plan

In an attempt to prevent and combat illegal drug use, the government announced that it will put into effect a Strategic National Plan on Drugs 2008-2012. The formal creation of the plan was announced on Wednesday at an official act overseen by Dominican President Leonel Fernández.

…this new initiative will give the Dominican Republic an effective tool to confront youth drug use and the threat of drug trafficking with innovative and more effective mechanisms.

The program, to be carried out under the auspices of the National Council on Drugs (CND), is a national effort that seeks to carry out coordinated activities among the various institutions linked to drug-prevention issues and those that seek to reduce the supply and demand of illegal substance.

The presentation of this ambitious plan will be overseen by the president of the CND, Mabel Féliz Báez who explained that the strategy also involves adopting drug awareness programs and information about the various types of recreational drugs. She said the plan will seek to motivate and mobilize public and private institutions as well as civil society to become aware and to take measures to deal with the problem. She added that the initiative would include actions and strategies, public policy, the adoption of measures to strengthen the response system in the face of drugs and drug use. The plan also calls for the creation of a national research and information system.

Ms. Féliz Báez said that in terms of public policy, the Strategic Plan is directed at strengthening national institutions, modernizing legal frameworks and reforming drug policy. The CND president believes that this new initiative will give the Dominican Republic an effective tool to confront youth drug use and the threat of drug trafficking with innovative and more effective mechanisms.

She took the opportunity to thank President Fernández for the support his government has shown to this institution and to make the Plan a reality. She added that the formal launching of the Plan assures the clear intensions of support on the part of the government to confront the country’s drug problem.

National and international technicians and members of public and private institutions worked together, under the auspices of the National Council on Drugs, to develop the program.

Dr. Marino Vinicio Castillo, presidential advisor on drugs, also spoke at the activity. He cautioned about the current drug problem and said that it is affecting society at large as well as individual families. He pointed out that since the last anti-drug effort developed by the Fernández administration, there has been a firm and determined struggle underway against drugs. He referred to Decree 286-08 – the Strategic National Plan on Drugs.

The ceremonial launching of the Plan, held in the Green Hall of the National Palace, was attended by government officials, military leaders, lawmakers, judges and magistrates and members of the foreign diplomatic corps.

National and international technicians and members of public and private institutions worked together, under the auspices of the National Council on Drugs, to develop the program.