Dangerous Drugs Board now turning to divine intervention

MANILA, Philippines -- The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) is turning to divine intervention in its efforts to battle drug trafficking and abuse.

Primers, leaflets and flyers about illegal drugs and how God can free anyone from the grip of drug abuse will soon be distributed among churchgoers all over the country before, during or after Mass and other religious gatherings.

DDB Chairman Vicente Sotto III, after an interfaith dialogue with leaders of the Catholic church and other religious congregations last week, said the national government’s efforts to prevent drug abuse will soon involve the religious sector.

He told The STAR of how the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the Jesus is Lord (JIL) movement, the Office on Muslim Affairs, the Seventh Day Adventist, the Apostolic Catholic Church, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the name above every name, and other religious groups have all agreed to launch a faith-based drive to cleanse their flocks of drug users.

“This is in line with President Arroyo’s directive to the DDB to involve the religious sector in the fight against illegal drugs,” Sotto said in an interview.

“Aside from fighting drug pushing and manufacture, preventing drug abuse is also a very important part of our renewed campaign,” he said.

Sotto said the initial step to be taken will involve the production and distribution of primers in churches during Mass, prayer meetings, and the likes.

“We will implement it as soon as possible. We will have a workshop this week so that we can discuss the contents of a universal primer that is faith-based in fighting illegal drugs,” he added.

According to him, the DDB will shoulder the basic costs of printing the primers or flyers while churches can actually spend more if they want to reproduce it depending on their needs.

Sotto, in strongly advocating for the conduct of random drug tests among high school and college students, had earlier stressed that the campaign against illegal drugs should not just focus on enforcement but also in prevention.

He said there are drug lords or drug syndicates to bust but there are also drug users and victims to save like the Filipino youth.

The DDB is even pushing for the revival of the US-based Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) project in order to provide children and teenagers knowledge and skills needed to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence.

Sotto said the goal is to further strengthen the national government’s efforts to rid the country of illegal drugs by educating the young on the ill effects of drug abuse and how they can avoid it.

According to him, the DARE project was first implemented in the country sometime in the mid 1990s to around 1998.

“This time, we are updating the program so as to make it geared towards the Filipino youth,” Sotto said.

“We were in la Union Monday to start or re-launch DARE,” he said, noting that the DDB is working closely with the church, the Department of Education (DepEd), and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in coordination with US-DARE program officials.

DARE America was founded in Los Angeles in 1983 and has proven so successful that it is now being implemented in 75 percent of US school districts and in more than 43 other countries around the world including the Philippines.

Sotto said he is taking the DARE project to the next level by shifting its focus from kids to teenagers who are the ones most vulnerable to the threat of drug abuse.