The City of Vilnius last week sponsored a two-day international conference entitled "AIDS and Drug Use: Let's Unify our Response."
Published:
5 October 2000 y., Thursday
The event brought together experts from Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden, the United States as well as hundreds of representatives from many levels of
Lithuanian society and government: police and health officials, educators,
student leaders and politicians.
The main auditorium at the Vilnius Congress Hall was standing room only
for the opening addresses on Sept. 19 - a testament to the importance of
these issues in Lithuania today. In most cases, the speeches themselves
addressed concrete means of attacking the drug problem.
Kornelijus Platelis, Lithuania's minister of education, spoke about the
effect of drug use on schools in the country. "Drugs are affecting mainly
our young people. Drugs are openly sold in schools and underage crime
is increasing," he said.
Platelis advocated increased policing of drug traffickers and dealers in
order to reduce supply as well as working more closely with countries
more experienced in fighting drugs such as the United States, Russia and
Sweden.
While Lithuania was only a hub for the transportation of narcotics just a few short years ago, it is now a nation of drug producers and users, according to Ceslovas Blazys, minister of the interior. Some 21 percent of Lithuania's school-age boys and 9.6 percent of school-age girls experimented with drugs at least once, according to a
survey conducted by the Vilnius Pedagogical Institute in 1999.
Šaltinis:
baltictimes.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Tallinn's embattled mayor, Juri Mois, submitted his resignation on May 31 following months of criticism from the opposition and then members of his own Pro Patria party for a series of political blunders.
more »
Ex- shoeshine boy to become 1st leader with Indian roots
more »
Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Hendrik Ilves has caused another wave of fury among supporters of Baltic unity by a recent interview to the Wall Street Journal Europe.
more »
Oxford University this week said it was creating the Oxford Internet Institute, a multidisciplinary center dedicated to studying the Internet's societal impact.
more »
Tehelka.com shook the foundations of the Indian government in early March
more »
German pensions reforms approved
more »
Defying threats of violence, millions voted in legislative elections in five states of India Thursday, but rebel attacks and clashes between political parties killed 16 people, officials said.
more »
National Bolsheviks get stiff sentences
more »
Visitation rights online catch on
more »
Seven local residents, 6 men and one boy, were killed in the village of Kirov-Yurt in the Vedensky region of Chechnya on Monday
more »