As one of the biggest influences in a child’s life, parents play a role in guiding their children onto the right path in life. Every parent wants the best for their children and hopes that their children can grow up into a positive member of society. However, sometimes it is possible that children are led astray by other negative influences and gain harmful habits. One of these problems is drug-related issues in children. Parents too have a part to play in curbing drug issues in children. For parents who have children addicted to drugs, they may have to attend compulsory counseling sessions in the future.
National Anti-Drugs Agency (NADA) director-general Datuk Seri Zulkifli Abdullah said this was agreed upon in a Cabinet committee meeting after NADA made the recommendation. This decision was made after taking into account the importance of having parents helping those with drug problems, according to Bernama.
Zulkifli added that so far, those who are attending NADA-organised community events are parents whose children are not involved with drug problems. Next, he hopes that the compulsory counselling sessions would allow parents to become more informed about the problem. He also said the sessions would be able to raise awareness among parents on methods to help their children.
Drug Prevention Among Children
Previously, NADA had launched a hotline for the public to report on issues related to drug abuse in local area. The hotline also allowed the public to get advice about recovering from drug problems at NADA’s facilities. Additionally, NADA intends to focus on education and prevention. It aims to ensure that communities, families, schools, and institutions at risk would be able to get help and support from those in the government, the private sector, as well as their own community.
Furthermore, NADA aims to intensify efforts to crack down on drug trafficking in small quantities. This is due to the number of students who tested positive in the high-risk zone. As of October 2018, as many as 1,709 secondary school students tested positive for drugs among the 41,741 students that have gone through drug tests in Malaysia.
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