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Officials urge step-up in measures to prevent drug abuse

Urgent measures are needed to combat the rise in drug abuse and related HIV infections, government officials said yesterday. They said that drug-use prevention measures should start in the schools, to target youth at an early age.

According to Wang Guo-long (王國隆), deputy director of the department of military training education in the Ministry of Education (MOE), the amount of drugs discovered by criminal investigative bodies this year was 12,728kg, compared to 8,597kg last year and 8,428kg in 2003, showing the growing seriousness of the problem.

Drug abuse can lead to HIV infection, with statistics from the Department of Health showing that of the 2,849 cases of HIV infection reported in Taiwan this year, 64 percent were due to drug use.

In a bid to deal with the nation's growing drug problem, governmental policies include a "2005-2008 nationwide anti-drug campaign period."

"Drug abuse is a very serious problem which has ... made its way into our homes and schools," said People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lin Cheng-er (林正二).

According to Wang, 1,951 students were found with drugs this year, including students as young as primary-school age. Lin said that the first step in combatting the problem was to educate students about drugs and addiction.

"We have made progress in this area, with statistics showing that in 908 schools, 86.1 percent of students this year knew about the dangers of drug abuse compared with 78.8 percent in 2004," Lin said.

Lin suggested screening students for drug use and helping students seek rehabilitative services in those cases where students become addicted.

To prevent the spread of HIV infection because of the use of dirty needles, the government also announced initiatives to provide 10 million clean needles for intravenous drug users at public-health establishments across four cities and counties in Taiwan.

In an effort to help the government combat drug abuse, the Indigenous Development and Investment Association, a nonprofit organization, with the help of technological companies are donating 50,0000 doses of drug diagnosis kits to the MOE.
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