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Press
Release..............................
UNESCAP News Services
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Date 21
November 2003
Press Release No: N/30/2003
Drug abuse among Asian youth rising
UNESCAP course on prevention, treatment and rehabilitation
Bangkok (UN Information Services) -- Despite having
some of the toughest laws against drug trafficking and drug
use Asia is losing the war on drugs, especially among its youth
population. In recent years the sharpest increases in drug abuse
has been in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) among youth using
amphetamine -type substances.
UNESCAP and United Nations Office of Drug Control
(UNODC) will organize the first subregional course on 'Development
and Delivery of Drug Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation
Programmes for Youth' from 24 to 28 November 2003. 20 participants
will attend the course from China (Yunnan Province), Lao PDR,
Thailand and Viet Nam.
The course will be opened at 9 AM, 24 November
2003 by Mr Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary, UNESCAP, and address
by Mr Douglas Rasmussen, Counsellor of Embassy for Narcotics
and Law Enforcement Affairs, Embassy of United States of America,
will follow.
In response to the growing crisis the UNESCAP
and UNODC, since January 2002, have carried out research on
good practices in the field of drug abuse prevention, treatment
and rehabilitation in the GMS countries.
The course will provide a forum to devise a common
overall framework for country-level pilot training programmes
for drug abuse prevention, treatment and rehabilitation programmes.
Participants attending the course are expected
to develop and implement a country-level pilot training programme
in their respective countries. These programmes will involve:
a) Development and delivery of alternative drug
abuse prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services.
b) Development of country-level "good practices" and
c) Greater networking among country-level actors working in
this field.
Venue: Meeting Room F, Level 1, United Nations Conference Centre
(UNCC), Bangkok
For further information, please contact:
Mr. David Lazarus
Chief, United Nations Information Services
Bangkok
Tel: (+662) 288-1866-8; Fax: (+662) 288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
http://www.unescap.org/cmg/index.asp
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