Resolutely implement solutions to reduce drug demand

On November 18, the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuracy jointly held a national online conference to deploy solutions to reduce drug demand.

Speaking at the conference, Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang emphasized 6 tasks that need to be done immediately, which are: a general review of statistics on the number of drug addicts nationwide; the Department of Administrative Police for Social Order directs local police forces and commune police to enter data on drug addicts into the National Population Database, to be completed before December 15, 2024; strongly apply science and technology in drug prevention and control; ensure to shorten the time for information verification to no more than 3 hours; create maximum convenience for local police to complete procedures for sending drug addicts to rehabilitation.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, from 2022 to present, the People's Public Security force has presided over and coordinated with functional forces to detect and combat more than 67,000 cases, arrest more than 105,000 subjects, seize nearly 1.6 tons of heroin, more than 1.7 tons of marijuana, more than 7.6 tons and 7 million synthetic drug pills.

The above results show that the fight against drug supply has been done well by the authorities, controlling the supply of drugs from outside the country, preventing Vietnam from becoming an international drug transit area.

However, currently, the age of drug users tends to be younger, from 12 to 30 years old accounting for 44.6%; from 30 years old and up accounting for 55.4%, concentrated in the group without jobs or with unstable jobs (accounting for 60%), mainly using synthetic drugs.

Recently, there has been a rise in the number of people renting and using motels, hotels, apartments, and high-end resorts to organize illegal drug use.

Notably, there have been a number of cases of state officials, civil servants, artists, and football players participating in organizing illegal drug use.

The use of "laughing gas" and "disguised" drugs, marinated and mixed into food, drinks, herbs, cigarettes, electronic cigarettes... is increasing in complexity; especially among young people, at business establishments with conditions and services sensitive to security and order.