QC gov’t to pursue sweeping campaign vs drug abuse

Users, dealers, manufacturers, financiers and protectors of illegal drugs better now end their illicit business in Quezon City as the city government has adopted an all-inclusive program to keep in check, if not totally eradicate, the drug menace.

The comprehensive anti-drug abuse and rehabilitation program provides among others for an integrated system of planning, implementation and enforcement of anti-drug abuse policies, programs and activities.

The move also provides an extra push toward the advancement of the national government’s drug control agenda by waging an unrelenting war against narcotics and other prohibited drugs.

Specifically, the action calls for an organized and systematic approach to ensure a faithful and strict implementation of all drug-related laws, rules and regulations, over and above the provision of pertinent mechanisms and infrastructure.

According to Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista, also chair of the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (QCADAC), the city government is looking at the drug problem as primarily a health and social service concern rather than police enforcement and prosecution.

And in so doing, Bautista said, it is pushing for the implementation of an all-embracing anti-drug abuse and rehabilitation program of positive social reintegration for drug dependents through rehabilitative and therapeutic treatment, coupled with skills and capability-building activities.

Accordingly, the endeavor would approach strengthening the QCADAC to make it more effective in exercising its oversight function over the city’s anti-drug abuse program. This is on top of the renovation of the Quezon City Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (QCDTRC) or Tahanan, to make it more accessible and responsive to the needs of drug dependents.

Akin to this, in the works are the reorganization of both the QCADAC and QCDTRC, complete with its organizational components and staffing pattern.

The QCADAC will also be set up to serve as advisory and regulatory body to the various units and agencies of the city government involved with the anti-drug abuse program.