Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long attended a rally in response to the Month of Action for Drug Prevention and Control in Nghe An.

Attending the ceremony, on the Central leadership side were comrades: Le Thanh Long - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the National Committee for AIDS, Drugs and Prostitution Prevention and Control; Lieutenant General Le Quoc Hung - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Minister of Public Security; along with Vice Chairmen of the National Committee for AIDS, Drugs and Prostitution Prevention and Control and leaders of relevant ministries and branches.

On the side of Nghe An province, there were comrades: Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; together with leaders of departments, branches, sectors, and organizations who are members of Steering Committee 138 and leaders of districts, cities, and towns.

Attending the ceremony were representatives from the provinces: Dien Bien, Son La, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Kon Tum.

Building "Drug-free districts, cities and towns"

Action month for drug prevention and control in 2024 with the theme "Joining hands to build drug-free communes, wards and towns".

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh emphasized that drugs are a danger to every family, every country and the whole world.

Crime and drug abuse cause great harm to the economy, politics, and society, destroy health, degrade human race and dignity, destroy family happiness, and seriously affect security, order, and social safety.

Crime and drug abuse are the main causes of theft, robbery, murder, fraud, extortion, and public disorder.

To have a healthy and developed living environment, Nghe An determines that ensuring security, order and social safety, including drug prevention and control, is an important, urgent and regular task, going hand in hand with the process of socio-economic development and ensuring security and national defense.

In recent times, the work of preventing and combating drugs in the province has achieved many important results. The situation of drug crimes and drug abuse has been controlled, reducing both the nature and complexity. Dozens of drug rings and gangs have been arrested. Many areas and complex drug hotspots have been transformed.

Drug addiction treatment and post-treatment management have brought about positive results; opium re-planting has been completely prevented. In particular, the awareness and sense of responsibility of each citizen towards the fight against crime and drug abuse has been increasingly enhanced.

After more than 2 years of implementing and expanding the Project to build "Drug-free border communes", up to now, the whole province has had 227/460 commune-level areas recognized as "drug-free", of which 5 district-level areas have achieved 100% "drug-free" commune-level areas.

Up to now, 76 more commune-level localities have met the two criteria of "cleaning drug lines, locations, and complex drug gathering places" and "cleaning drug addicts" and the Provincial Police are conducting appraisal of the results according to regulations.

Emphasizing that the crime and drug abuse situation is still potentially large and complicated, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh requested all levels, branches and functional organizations of Nghe An province to resolutely and actively implement solutions to prevent and combat drugs.

All levels, sectors and organizations need to closely coordinate with the Provincial Police to effectively implement and replicate the Project to build "Narcotics-free border communes" towards building "Narcotics-free districts, cities and towns"; act together, further enhance the role and responsibility of each citizen. Nghe An Province will join localities across the country in resolutely containing and repelling the dangers of drugs.

At the rally, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Bac Ly commune (Ky Son) shared experiences and good practices in implementing and replicating the Project to build a "Drug-free border commune" in the area.

Join hands to create "a drug-free border belt"

Speaking at the rally, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long emphasized the great harms of drugs to people, society, and the stability, development and longevity of the country and nation.

Fully aware of the reality of the situation and risks of drugs, in recent years, our Party and State have issued many guidelines, policies, laws, and set out synchronous tasks and solutions to address "demand", strongly attack "supply" and minimize the risks and harms of drugs.

The Deputy Prime Minister commended the determination and efforts of leaders, Party committees and authorities at all levels of Nghe An province, especially collectives and individuals with outstanding achievements in implementing and replicating the Project to build "Drug-free border communes" in recent times.

The organization and implementation of the model of "Clean border communes on drugs" is a good and creative way to prevent and combat drugs at the grassroots level; thereby aiming at the goal of building "clean border districts on drugs", creating a solid "shield", "clean border belt of drugs" and has been concretized by the outstanding results and achievements achieved in the past 2 years.

Emphasizing that the drug crime situation in our country is expected to continue to develop complicatedly, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long requested ministries, branches and localities to continue to lead, direct and promote the role and responsibility of leaders to resolutely and effectively implement the directives of the Party, National Assembly, Government and National Committee on drug prevention and control.

Strengthening propaganda work on drug prevention and control; Organizing the construction and replication of pilot models; drug-free communes, wards and towns; moving towards building drug-free districts and provinces.

In which, border provinces study and refer to Nghe An's experience to build and implement in their localities in accordance with the actual situation and conditions; thereby, creating "a drug-free border belt", improving the ability to prevent the infiltration and smuggling of drug sources from outside into the interior.

The Deputy Prime Minister suggested that it is necessary to closely combine prevention and control, supply reduction, demand reduction and the reduction of harmful effects of drugs. Strengthen the fight to stop the "supply source" and destroy the places where illegal drug use is organized.

On the other hand, improve the effectiveness of international cooperation on drug prevention, control and combat with countries and international organizations, especially with countries sharing borders, countries in the region and developed countries.

On this occasion, the Minister of Public Security awarded Certificates of Merit to 8 collectives and 4 individuals of Nghe An province; the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee awarded Certificates of Merit to 4 collectives and 6 individuals for their outstanding achievements in implementing and replicating the Project to build "Drug-free border communes".