"War" against drugs in Tuong Duong: When the entire political system gets involved

(Baonghean) - For many years, Tuong Duong has been a key area for drug abuse. In this situation, the District Party Committee issued and implemented Resolution 03-NQ/HU in 2011 "On strengthening the Party's leadership in building healthy communes, villages, agencies, and schools free of drugs". After 3 years of implementation, initial results have been remarkable.

The bright spots

Previously, Yen Hoa commune (Tuong Duong) had 12 villages, of which only 1 village had no drug addicts or drug dealers; the remaining 11 villages had drug addicts, some even injecting and retailing drugs. According to Yen Hoa commune police, as of April 2012, the whole commune had 40 drug addicts, of which 70% were young people. After implementing Resolution 03 of the District Party Committee, the situation of drug trafficking and use tended to decrease. In order to put the Resolution of the District Party Committee into practice, the Commune Party Committee also developed a resolution on this issue. In particular, the Party Committee focused on leading and promoting propaganda work. Members of the Propaganda Committee regularly went to the villages, or incorporated it into meetings to talk about the security and order situation, cases, and crime handling situation for the villagers. Police officers in the villages screened and grasped the thoughts of families and had a firm grasp of the addicts. The commune Party Committee also assigned a member of the Party Executive Committee to be in charge of a village, along with the Drug Rehabilitation Board to encourage the addicts to go to rehab. Regarding post-rehabilitation management, the Party Committee assigned the Party cell, organizations, and villages to encourage the addicts to reintegrate into the community and not be lured by bad friends. In 2013 and 2014, the commune encouraged 7 people to undergo home-based rehab, and sent 5 people to rehab in the district (2 more than the district assigned). Thanks to the implementation of the above synchronous solutions, people's awareness of drugs has been raised, and the number of addicts in the area has gradually decreased. Mr. Lo Hoai Tun's family, Coc village, Yen Hoa commune has two addicted children. Not willing to see their children slowly die from drugs, the couple actively cooperated with the government and organizations to encourage their children to give up drugs. Mr. Lo Van Tun frankly said: “Before, Lo Van Vien (the eldest son) was a heavy drug addict, but now he has quit and is determined to work hard. As for the second son, Lo Van Bong, I discovered that he was addicted, so I asked the police to take him to rehab.”

Trainees are working at the Tuong Duong Social Labor Center. Photo: Chau Lan

In addition, in Yen Hoa, the role of the Youth Union has been promoted quite positively. Comrade Dang Van Vien - Secretary of the Yen Hoa Commune Youth Union said: The commune Youth Union has mobilized young people to work abroad and become workers; organized activities to attract young people to participate such as: sports, arts. Thereby, propagandizing, mobilizing, aiming to raise awareness to help young people stay away from drugs. To solve the root cause of the drug problem, the Party Committee and the Yen Hoa Commune Government determined to focus on fighting drug trafficking activities in the area. Comrade Thai Van Dung, Head of the Commune Police, was excited: The province and district have just unexpectedly awarded Yen Hoa in drug prevention and control work, for their achievements in destroying two hotspots in Vang Mon and Hao villages, arresting two subjects Luong Van Nguyen and Lo Van On, seizing many guns, grenades, daggers and drugs. From 2011 to now, the commune has caught nearly 30 cases of drug trafficking, storage and transportation. The above encouraging results are also the foundation for Yen Hoa to be more confident in its path to achieving the goal of eliminating drugs from the area. Comrade Secretary of the Mong Van Sinh Commune Party Committee said: The goal set by Yen Hoa is to have three villages of Yen Huong, Xop Kha and Xop Kit free of drugs by 2015, reducing both major and serious drug-related crimes. In addition, it is necessary to continue to strengthen the role of Party committees in drug prevention and control, to have a firm grasp of drug traffickers and users, to propose appropriate forms of combat and rehabilitation, striving for 100% of addicts to have management records, with an average of 20-30 people being rehabilitated at home and in the community each year.

Coming to Luu Kien, visiting the 3-room stilt house located right next to National Highway 7A with full living facilities of Vi Van Thin's family in Khe Kien village, no one would think that Mr. Thin was previously addicted to drugs. "For many years I was addicted to drugs, my family's life was miserable and seemed impossible to recover, all the assets in the house were sold" - Vi Van Thin confided. When I was sober, seeing my children starving, starving for knowledge, I always felt guilty. Thinking about my children's future, I voluntarily applied to go to a drug rehabilitation center. After 18 months, I returned to the commune's community drug rehabilitation center." By 2008, Vi Van Thin had quit drugs. With the help of the Luu Kien commune government and the Social Policy Bank for loans, Vi Van Thin invested in buying a vehicle to transport and trade agricultural products such as squash, corn, taro, rice, etc. From 2008 to now, the average family income has reached 60 - 80 million VND/year. The family's life has gradually stabilized. Now in Tuong Duong district, people mention Vi Van Thin as a typical example of self-rehabilitation from drug addiction and rebuilding his life.

Luu Kien borders Ky Son, 18 km from the district center, the commune has 6 villages, 3 ethnic groups living together including Thai, Mong and Kho Mu. In previous years, in the commune, drug abuse was complicated, concentrated in 3 villages Khe Kien, Xoong Con and Pung. Initially, the subjects were addicted so they bought and stored drugs to smoke, but later, seeing the high profits, they traded retail, established many gathering places in the commune, while people's awareness was still limited, they did not fully understand the harmful effects of drugs, so the situation of drug trafficking and storage in the area became more and more complicated. Implementing the directives and resolutions of the superiors on drug prevention and control, the Party Committee of Luu Kien commune issued specialized resolutions, action programs, mobilizing the entire political system to join the fight against drug abuse. In which, promoting the role and responsibility of Party committees, authorities, the Fatherland Front and mass organizations; Party cells, and each cadre and party member must strengthen propaganda and education on the awareness of self-consciousness in complying with the law, resolutely fighting and eliminating social evils. At the same time, direct the People's Committee of the commune to establish and perfect the Steering Committee, assign tasks to comrades of the Party Executive Committee assigned to directly direct. The village management board widely propagates to the people to understand the policy, find solutions to effectively implement the fight against drug abuse, contributing to maintaining political security, order and social safety in the area. In particular, the District Women's Union directs the Commune Women's Union to establish a Drug Prevention and Control Club, regularly propagates so that people are aware of the harmful effects of drugs, actively fight against and denounce drug trafficking and use crimes through many forms.

In addition to propaganda work, the way of doing things in Luu Kien is to promote the people's self-awareness in the fight, denounce and prevent all kinds of crimes. Combine the work of grasping and managing information sources with the work of handling information sources, fighting and suppressing all kinds of crimes. All villages in the commune organize to mobilize people to participate in voting to denounce crimes, denounce drug users and addicts at the crime denunciation ballot box located at the village's community cultural house. In the first months of 2014, the total number of votes to denounce drug crimes in the commune was 670 votes. The commune promptly compiled a list to monitor, manage, and help them become useful people for society, and at the same time reported and made a proposal to the higher level. Thanks to that, in the first 9 months of 2014, the commune eliminated a number of drug dens in the villages, arrested 7 cases, 7 subjects retailing, storing and illegally using drugs. Of which, 6 cases were prosecuted criminally, 1 case was handed over to the commune for administrative handling according to its authority. 13 sets of compulsory drug rehabilitation records were prepared, and in coordination with the district police, 5 subjects were sent to district and provincial drug rehabilitation centers; 15 sets of records were prepared, including 7 subjects undergoing community rehabilitation and 8 subjects undergoing home rehabilitation. Comrade Vi Van Bang - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Luu Kien Commune, Tuong Duong District said: "The fight against drug abuse is a key and regular task of the Party Committee. Some complicated hotspots have been eliminated, the commune has focused on propagating the harmful effects of drugs, as well as promoting the movement of the entire population to fight against drugs. In 2014, the Luu Kien Party Committee chose Pung village to build a model of a drug-free village and strived to maintain Luu Thong village, striving for the commune to no longer be plagued by drug abuse".

Many challenges remain

In Tuong Duong, in order to achieve many results in the fight against drugs, the district has linked the dissemination and implementation of Resolution 03 of the District Party Committee, Directive 48-CT/TU of the Politburo on strengthening the Party's leadership over drug prevention and control work in the new situation and Resolution 09 of the Government on the National Program on drug prevention and control - PCMT, preventing and combating human trafficking crimes; Directive No. 13/2013 of the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee on "Continuing to strengthen leadership and direction of drug prevention and control work in the new situation". Thanks to that, the effectiveness and efficiency of the political system has been further consolidated and improved. Party committees and authorities at all levels have promoted the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and mass organizations in the fight against drugs. The district has conducted basic surveys and investigations from villages, inter-family groups, communes and towns in the whole district to have data, make a list of complicated drug areas, drug lines, gangs, gathering places, the number of drug criminals and drug addicts in the area. In addition, the Steering Committee, with the core being the District Police, has proactively coordinated with the Vietnam Fatherland Front and mass organizations to develop a plan to eliminate complicated drug gathering places in Xieng My, Nga My, Yen Na, Xa Luong; coordinated with the Women's Union to establish clubs, such as: Drug prevention and control club, crime prevention and control club in Xoong Con village, Luu Kien commune; Phong village, Cay Me village, Thach Giam commune,... to contribute to maintaining security, social order and safety and limiting drug abuse in localities. People have also provided valuable information, helping the Police and Border Guards investigate and arrest many violators of illegal drug trafficking and storage, eradicate drug lines, drug retail points, and discover and eradicate 484 square meters of opium poppy in Huoi Son village, Tam Hop commune, planted by Mong people (Laos). Therefore, after 2 years of implementing the Resolution, the district has discovered and arrested 165 cases, 172 drug criminals; seized 596 grams of heroin, 3 grenades, 14 homemade guns, 20 bullets, many motorbikes, and phones. Eradicated 3 locations and 13 complex drug hotspots.

The above results are very remarkable. However, the number of drug addicts in the whole district (by the end of 2013) is still 1,505 people. The number of people currently being managed in the community is 891 people, the number in prisons and centers is 473 people, the number of other subjects: 141 people. In Tuong Duong district, as of November 2013, there are 6 key areas of type 1 (Luu Kien, Luong Minh, Yen Na, Yen Tinh, Nga My, Xieng My). There are still 18 complicated locations, 50 drug retail points. That shows that drug abuse is developing very complicatedly and unpredictably, although the core forces of the Police and Border Guard have been very active in controlling, preventing and fighting.

Besides localities that have implemented the resolution well, with concerned Party committees and core forces involved, there are still localities that have not paid attention to disseminating, thoroughly understanding, and developing action programs and plans to implement the resolution, and many Party cells do not have Resolution 03-NQ/HU. In some places, Party committees and grassroots authorities have not inspected and urged the thorough understanding and implementation of the resolution; there are lacks of active measures and solutions in the fight against drugs, management and education to help drug addicts reintegrate into the community after rehabilitation, so the rate of re-addiction is still very high. At the Party committees, authorities, and Fatherland Front of grassroots organizations, there are still situations where leaders, cadres, and Party members have not been exemplary in registering to receive support, help drug addicts to reintegrate into the community, and manage and educate them after rehabilitation. According to comrade Thai Van Dung - Head of Yen Hoa Commune Police, the most difficult task at present is still propaganda and raising awareness among the people. Besides, family management of children and youth is very difficult. Post-rehab management is not effective.

According to Mr. Vi Tan Hoi - Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee, Head of the District Drug Prevention and Control Steering Committee: Propagating the consequences and harms of drugs needs to be done more actively and effectively to create a widespread movement of action against drugs throughout the district, towards building healthy, drug-free communes and villages. Continue to consolidate and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the political system, first of all, the cadres in charge of Party committees, authorities, organizations, and coordination between sectors and levels in the fight against drugs. The district will resolutely not let drugs penetrate into the current drug-free villages, strive to build villages with less drugs, towards being drug-free. Effectively implement the model of drug-free communes and villages in Tam Hop and Yen Thang communes; effectively implement the post-rehabilitation management model in Luu Kien commune, and replicate it in Tam Quang commune in 2015.

Chau Lan - Thanh Le