Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akda\u011f said, \u201cAfter the High Council for the Fight Against Addiction was established, we quickly drafted the relevant legislation. “First, the 2018\u20132023 Strategy Document and Action Plan for Combating Drug Abuse is currently available as a draft,” he said.<\/p>\n
The High Council for the Fight Against Addiction, chaired by Akda\u011f, held its first meeting of the year in the conference room of the Ministry of Development.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, Minister of Family and Social Policies Fatma Bet\u00fcl Sayan Kaya, Minister of Labor and Social Security J\u00fclide Sar\u0131ero\u011flu, Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock Ahmet E\u015fref Fak\u0131baba, Minister of the Interior S\u00fcleyman Soylu, Minister of Finance Naci A\u011fbal, Minister of National Education \u0130smet Y\u0131lmaz, Minister of Health Ahmet Demircan, Chairman of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) Health Committee Necdet \u00dcn\u00fcvar, Chairman of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RT\u00dcK) \u0130lhan Yerlikaya, President of the Turkish Ye\u015filay Society M\u00fccahit \u00d6zt\u00fcrk, Member of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Ye\u015filay Society Esra Albayrak, and bureaucrats from the relevant agencies were in attendance.<\/p>\n
In his opening remarks at the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Akda\u011f noted that the High Council for the Fight Against Drugs, established on November 13, 2014, had ensured that significant steps were taken over the past three years to combat drugs, which pose a threat to the country, its youth, and its people.<\/p>\n
Akda\u011f, noting that following the establishment of the High Council for the Fight Against Drugs, the World Health Organization had cited Turkey\u2019s approach and plans as a model for other countries, said, \u201cThe issue of addiction is a very serious problem that threatens all young people and society worldwide. “Addiction is a condition that negatively affects both the health of individuals and society, on the one hand, and the peace, public order, economy, and social life of that society, on the other,” he said.<\/p>\n
Noting that a holistic approach to combating addiction has become increasingly widespread in Europe and many other parts of the world, particularly over the past 10 years, Akda\u011f announced that Turkey has prepared its plans in this regard for a five-year period spanning 2018\u20132023.<\/p>\n
– “Addiction should be addressed within a holistic framework”<\/p>\n
Akda\u011f noted that the fight against addiction addresses tobacco, alcohol, drug, and gambling addictions, as well as addiction resulting from the misuse of technology, within a comprehensive framework, and continued as follows:<\/p>\n
“This comprehensive approach is, in fact, the one that will secure our future. Following the establishment of the High Council for the Fight Against Addiction, we swiftly drafted the relevant legislation. First, the 2018\u20132023 Drug Control Strategy Document and Action Plan is currently available in draft form. We will discuss this draft and the action plans at today\u2019s meeting. In the coming months, at roughly one-month intervals, we will also finalize our five-year strategy documents on other addiction-related issues. Regarding all these documents, our 12 ministries and relevant institutions have conducted very serious work at the technical level. Policy labs were established, and work continued for days on end. There are certainly issues that require collaboration among different ministries. There are also issues that a specific ministry or agency must develop on its own. Therefore, we have the draft on drugs ready. We will have the others prepared at one-month intervals by the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Akda\u011f said that the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Food, Agriculture, and Livestock, and Transportation, Maritime Affairs, and Communications had also been added to the High Council for the Fight Against Addiction.<\/p>\n
– Street-level efforts have been strengthened in 50 provinces<\/p>\n
Akda\u011f, who also provided information on past efforts to combat drug use, stated that the organizational structure and staffing levels of the agencies responsible for preventing drugs from entering the market had been strengthened, and that their technical equipment capabilities had been expanded.<\/p>\n
Regarding narco-terrorism, Akda\u011f noted that security forces have achieved significant success in combating illegal cultivation and added that street-level efforts have also been strengthened through the establishment of task forces in 50 provinces.<\/p>\n
Akda\u011f, who stated that customs checkpoints and borders have been strengthened in terms of technical equipment and manpower, said that penalties have been increased for those engaged in this activity as part of what could be described as a cartel, gang, or organization.<\/p>\n
Akda\u011f stated that the mandatory reporting requirement had been lifted for healthcare professionals regarding individuals who seek treatment on their own initiative, noting that this was an important measure in encouraging people with substance use disorders to seek treatment.<\/p>\n
Akda\u011f also noted that educational programs on addiction are provided to families, young people, and students, and that Ye\u015filay has developed modules tailored to each age group.<\/p>\n
– “We will have completed three separate projects by the end of April”<\/p>\n
Akda\u011f, announcing that the fight against drugs in the new period will be carried out under four main headings, said, \u201cOne of these is combating supply. The second is combating demand; the third is counseling, treatment, rehabilitation, and reintegration services; and the fourth is communication regarding this issue. We will have specific requests for the media, particularly regarding communication.”<\/p>\n
Akda\u011f, noting that statements had been made regarding the prevalence of drug use in Turkey, said:<\/p>\n
“We don\u2019t have any very clear figures, especially regarding our youth, aside from a study conducted by our Ministry of the Interior in 2011. Therefore, by the end of April this year, we will have completed three separate studies. One of these is a study on prevalence among those over the age of 15, conducted by our Ministry of the Interior. This is a household-based survey. Household-based surveys have certain limitations\u2014you\u2019re going directly to families to ask questions\u2014but since similar surveys are conducted worldwide, they\u2019re important for making comparisons. In addition, for the 14\u201319 age group, we are conducting a study in our high schools in collaboration with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies and the Ministry of National Education. The Ministry of Family and Social Policies is also conducting a study for the 19\u201325 age group. The studies we are conducting with these younger age groups are carried out using an anonymous survey method.”<\/p>\n
Noting that there are different definitions of the frequency of drug use, Akda\u011f stated the following:<\/p>\n
“Having tried it at least once in one\u2019s life is one definition. But that doesn\u2019t mean the person uses drugs. Having used it in the past year is a second definition. That, too, doesn\u2019t mean the person uses drugs. Having used it in the past month is a third definition. This is what shows us that the risk has increased. There is a concept called \u2018chronic use,\u2019 but that doesn\u2019t fully equate to addiction either. Therefore, after gathering all this information, we will track the results of our efforts year by year using the indicators we\u2019ve established based on these findings.”<\/p>\n
Akda\u011f stated that the next few years will be years of mobilization for Turkey in the fight against drugs.<\/p>\n
Deputy Prime Minister Akda\u011f emphasized that the 2018\u20132023 Strategy Document and Action Plan for Combating Drugs will be presented to Prime Minister Binali Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m and President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan once they have been finalized.<\/p>\n
Following Akda\u011f’s remarks, the meeting continued behind closed doors.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.haberturk.com\/yerel-haberler\/14613925-bagimlilikla-mucadele-yuksek-kurulu-toplantisi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akda\u011f said, \u201cAfter the High Council for the Fight Against Addiction was established, we quickly drafted the relevant legislation. “First, the 2018\u20132023 Strategy Document and Action Plan for Combating Drug Abuse is currently available as a draft,” he said. The High Council for the Fight Against Addiction, chaired by Akda\u011f, held […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947","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=947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umudder.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}