[Audio] Preventing drugs from "attacking" workers

Construction industry union distributes leaflets on drug prevention to workers (documentary photo)

Workers and laborers are at high risk of being lured into illegal use, trading, storing, and transporting drugs.

High risk

Mr. HHT, from Tho Xuan district (Thanh Hoa), lives in Xuan Duong residential area, Tu Minh ward (Hai Duong city). He has just returned to Hai Duong to find a job after nearly a year of drug addiction treatment. Mr. T. said that the boarding house where he lives has a total of 10 rooms, mainly for workers from Son La, Ha Giang, and Yen Bai provinces. At first, because the company had a lot of work and was busy working overtime, Mr. T. had very little time to gather and socialize with other workers in the boarding house. When the company had less work and more free time, he started going out with his friends in the boarding house and was gradually lured into using crystal meth without realizing it. "Idleness leads to bad luck, limited knowledge about drugs, and not being able to control myself, I got involved in drugs," said Mr. T.

Hai Duong currently has more than 300,000 workers working in enterprises inside and outside industrial parks, of which nearly 20% of workers from other provinces have to stay in rented accommodation.

Le Xa village, Cam Phuc commune (Cam Giang) is near Phuc Dien industrial park, so there are many workers renting rooms. The whole village currently has more than 300 rooms for more than 3,000 workers, mainly workers from other provinces. According to Major Pham Van Phuong, Deputy Chief of Cam Phuc commune police, because there are many workers staying in rooms, Le Xa village is also a complicated area for drugs. Most of the workers staying in rooms are young, living far from their families. After work, they just hang around in the rooming house, with little access to healthy entertainment information. Therefore, they are easily lured, enticed to use, even buy, sell, and illegally possess drugs.

Last June, Cam Phuc Commune Police caught NVĐ. from Ha Giang, renting a room in Phuc Cau village to shelter 9 workers from Son La and Yen Bai who were illegally using drugs. Most of these workers worked at enterprises in Phuc Dien Industrial Park. Many ethnic minority youths were drug addicts, so as soon as they arrived in Hai Duong, they found ways to connect with drug dealers to satisfy their addiction. Some even directly traded these addictive substances.

There are currently no specific statistics on the number of workers and laborers addicted to drugs in the province, but according to the provincial police, drugs are infiltrating every dormitory and luring many people into addiction and crime. When addicted, workers are more likely to quit their jobs, steal property from businesses, production and business establishments, and entice other workers to illegally use drugs, causing social disorder.

Members of the group "Businesses and boarding houses safe in terms of security and order" of Cam Phuc commune exchange information to promptly prevent drug crimes in boarding houses.

Increase "resistance"

To prevent drugs from entering factories, enterprises, and boarding houses, the provincial police, together with other functional forces, have stepped up the fight against and suppressed crime in general and drugs in particular in industrial parks and industrial clusters, and consider this one of the key tasks this year.

Recently, businesses in the province have paid more attention to organizing after-hours activities associated with propaganda about the harmful effects of drugs for workers. In localities with many workers and temporary workers, there have been good and effective ways to ensure security and order, prevent drugs, typically the model of "Self-managed boarding houses on security and order" in Viet Hoa ward (Hai Duong city), "Enterprises and boarding houses safe on security and order" in Cam Giang district.

In many places, landlords have also become the “eyes and ears” to help workers stay away from drugs. Mr. Le Van Hung, a landlord in Le Xa village, Cam Phuc commune, said: “My family always has about 300 workers staying at my house, so I have to constantly monitor and grasp the thoughts and wishes of each person to have timely propaganda and reminder measures. I have installed 12 cameras in 9 boarding houses. When I detect any suspicious activities, I remind or closely monitor them to promptly detect and report to the commune police force for timely handling.”

In industrial parks with a large number of workers, the Provincial Federation of Labor regularly coordinates with business unions and local authorities to organize knowledge sharing sessions, update new information on drug crime developments, helping them recognize the dangers and proactively prevent them.

BAO ANH