The Parliamentary Research Commission, established to investigate drug addiction and new forms of addiction in order to identify the causes of addiction and determine the necessary measures, convened under the chairmanship of Y\u0131lmaz Tezcan, AK Party Member of Parliament for Mersin.<\/p>\n
At today\u2019s meeting of the commission, Prof. Dr. \u0130lhan, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Gazi University, gave a presentation on the communication aspect of the fight against drugs.<\/p>\n
\u0130lhan said that presenting the drug problem to the public by linking it to terrorism would contribute to the fight against drugs.<\/p>\n
Noting that the fight against drugs begins with supply reduction and that law enforcement agencies are working diligently on this front, \u0130lhan stated that demand reduction is the issue that deserves the most attention in this fight.<\/p>\n
Emphasizing that the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Presidency of Religious Affairs have a major role to play in reducing demand, \u0130lhan said, \u201cAt this very point, communication emerges as the most important factor. “We need to set a goal for ourselves regarding demand reduction. We must recognize that this will require a multi-sectoral effort. We must make excellent use of our communication channels,” he said.<\/p>\n
Explaining that the 15\u201324 age group constitutes the most significant at-risk population for drug addiction, \u0130lhan emphasized that all efforts should be directed toward this group. \u0130lhan stated, \u201cThis is the area where cooperation among families, civil society organizations, the government, and the media is most essential.\u201d “Research has shown that 70 percent of people who have tried drugs at least once continue to use them. This highlights the importance of never starting to use drugs in the first place as the primary preventive measure,” he said. <\/p>\n
Prof. Dr. Mustafa Necmi \u0130lhan emphasized the need to raise awareness about healthy living and the importance of preparing a guide for the media.<\/p>\n
Noting that public service announcements on the fight against drugs could be produced for high-traffic websites, \u0130lhan said, \u201cA unified approach is one of the key components of this fight. We must continue our efforts using a model tailored to Turkey\u2019s specific context, taking these challenges into account. “Shared values and inter-institutional cooperation are crucial in this fight. We need to constantly adapt as drug dealers find new ways to operate,” he said.<\/p>\n
– “It is important for the media to come together in a shared sense of responsibility”<\/strong><\/p>\n Ye\u015fim Sert Karaaslan, a senior correspondent for the Anadolu Agency (AA) and vice president of the Health Communication Association, said that the media, along with society, has a major role to play in the fight against substance abuse.<\/p>\n Karaaslan, noting that ensuring effective communication is crucial and that the media plays a vital role in conveying information to the target audience, “For the accurate transmission of information to individuals and society, the provision of appropriate guidance, and the raising of awareness, it is important for the media to come together with a shared sense of responsibility,” he noted.<\/p>\n In news reports, Karaaslan emphasized that the economic value of the item should not be mentioned so as not to encourage such behavior; instead, he suggested that using terms like “bag,” “package,” or “kilogram” could help prevent those seeking to profit from this illegal activity from being encouraged to do so.<\/p>\n Explaining that the use of a common language in the news could be seen as another important element in the struggle, Karaaslan noted the following:<\/p>\n “A workshop to be held with the participation of provincial media representatives, in the spirit of shared awareness, will contribute to advocacy efforts. In many developed countries, there are journalists who specialize in diplomacy, education, and health. A journalist who is an expert in this field is well-versed in the health literature, knowledgeable about relevant legislation, and much more experienced. The media can conduct training in this area internally, or it can collaborate with relevant professional organizations and civil society organizations to hold workshops.”<\/p>\n – “Concerns about ratings have become alarming”<\/strong><\/p>\n Aslan De\u011firmenci, President of the International Media and Information Association, said that government agencies need to develop a common language of communication with media representatives, particularly regarding the fight against drugs.<\/p>\n De\u011firmenci noted that there is significant conceptual confusion in the media and suggested that reporters in the field could be trained to put an end to this confusion.<\/p>\n De\u011firmenci, noting that when press and media centers reviewed their news archives, they found that 30,000 news stories related to this field were published each year, said, “That is truly a very high number. In 70 percent of these news stories, users are described with terms such as \u2018trapped,\u2019 \u2018stuck in a quagmire,\u2019 \u2018victim,\u2019 \u2018young,\u2019 or \u2018child-aged.\u2019 Users are generally portrayed as dangerous lunatics. We must break free from this othering,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n De\u011firmenci argued that the media\u2019s obsession with ratings has reached alarming levels, leading to highly sensationalized news stories. Emphasizing that this practice\u2014carried out solely to boost viewership\u2014must be abandoned, De\u011firmenci said: <\/p>\n “Anadolu Agency has not been providing its subscribers with suicide-related news for about three years. This is a positive development. We have observed that the number of suicide-related news stories in the media has dropped by 60 percent as a result of the agency\u2019s decision not to provide such reports to its subscribers. We are also seeing a decrease in suicide incidents following the agency\u2019s assumption of this responsibility. All media organizations must demonstrate the same sensitivity regarding substance abuse. I must point out, however, that the number of news stories aimed at increasing the demand for treatment in the fight against addiction is virtually nonexistent. We need to engage in this self-criticism.”<\/p>\n Meanwhile, representatives from the Prime Ministry\u2019s General Directorate of Press, Publications, and Information, the General Directorate of the Turkish Employment Agency, and the Presidency of the Radio and Television Supreme Council also briefed the commission on their institutions\u2019 operating principles and ongoing projects.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.star.com.tr\/guncel\/tbmm-madde-bagimliligi-arastirma-komisyonu-haber-1323080\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Parliamentary Research Commission, established to investigate drug addiction and new forms of addiction in order to identify the causes of addiction and determine the necessary measures, convened under the chairmanship of Y\u0131lmaz Tezcan, AK Party Member of Parliament for Mersin. At today\u2019s meeting of the commission, Prof. Dr. \u0130lhan, Dean of the Faculty of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[58,57],"class_list":["post-915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-parliamentary-investigative-committee","tag-substance-abuse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}