The International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking fell on June 26, with Shenzhen Public Security Bureau announcing that the city was tied for first place with the 21 prefecture-level cities of Guangdong Province on a 2020 provincial anti-drug assessment, The Paper reports.
In recent years, in addition to building comprehensive networks for tackling the circulation and distribution of drugs both domestically and across borders, Shenzhen Public Security Bureau has also effectively utilized community resources and developed up-to-date methods to minimize the harm caused by drugs.The bureau has actively promoted the establishment of anti-drug social work and volunteer associations in the city, while helping to mobilize civil society actors to participate in drug rehabilitation. The organization’s efforts even include recruiting former drug users to help reach out to current users in a further effort to reduce harm. For example, a team of 30 former users who had not relapsed for at least three years were selected to help with the work, after receiving counseling training. Thanks to these strategies, the city’s community drug rehabilitation rate has reached 99.78 percent.
Shenzhen Public Security Bureau has continuously advocated for national youth anti-drug and drug prevention education on a wide range of digital platforms, with the aim of ensuring that all students receive drug education.
The bureau has also made use of new forms of media such as short videos to actively engage with people. Virtual anti-drug figures have even been created to use on various social media platforms. And the bureau’s efforts appear to be paying off, with awareness of drugs and the harm caused by drugs increasing significantly among local residents, along with a fall in the amount of people taking drugs for the first time.
