With the aim of preventing youths from using drugs by enhancing their anti-drug awareness through peer pressure, the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday organised 20 local participants in their two ongoing training programmes, titled Youth Safety Community Leaders and Young Crime Fighters, as well as several visiting members of the Safety Pioneers of the Juvenile Police Academy in Weifang city in Shandong province, to conduct an anti-drug campaign in the Ilha Verde district, explaining to the public, especially young people, the dangers of taking drugs and respective preventive measures, while also encouraging them to share relevant anti-drug information with their peers.
The first post-COVID-19 pandemic publicity campaign in sitting-out areas, public parks and sports grounds in Macau’s northern district started on Friday and will end tomorrow.
Cheong Kim Fong, who heads the PJ Youth Concern Group, told the media on the sidelines of the campaign that seven drug-related crimes involving young people under the age of 21 were reported in Macau in the first half of this year, more than in the same period of last year, adding that although all the youngsters involved are non-local residents, with the recovery of the city’s socio-economic situation and the cancellation of its travel restrictions, as well as the proliferation of drug gangs outside Macau attempting to sell drugs in Macau with the help of youngers, the risk of Macau’s young people coming into contact with drugs has increased. Therefore, he promised that the Judiciary Police will continue to work closely with their counterparts in neighbouring cities to step up the fight against drug crimes and prevent the flow of drugs into Macau while, at the same time, continuously launching various publicity campaigns and seminars at local schools, aiming to raise public awareness of the scourge of drugs and criminal consequences through trilateral cooperation involving parents, schools, and the police.
Considering that some countries and regions have decriminalised cannabis substances in recent years, Cheong urged the public to pay more attention to the ingredients when purchasing souvenirs abroad, stressing that cannabis is still a controlled substance in Macau and, consequently, banned from being brought into the city.
Speaking to reporters separately yesterday, two participants in the police training programmes, surnamed O and Ip, said they hoped that the publicity campaign could remind the public to avoid breaching the law inadvertently, adding that there was a low awareness of drug-related crimes among their peers.
Cheong Kim Fong, who heads the Judiciary Police (PJ) Youth Concern Group, talks to the media on the sidelines of yesterday’s anti-drug campaign in the city’s northern district.
– Photo: Yuki Lei
