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
Campaign for green transport underscores key role of cities in fighting global warming.
more »
The EP has called for a rapid release of EU aid funds to help victims of this summer's devastating forest fires in Southern Europe, especially in Greece.
more »
Taking into account changes on domestic and international money markets AB DnB NORD Bankas, a member of international financial group shall change individual and corporate time deposit rates from September 14th.
more »
The World Bank today approved a US$75 million IDA credit to Sri Lanka, which will support the second phase of a community driven development program that has touched the lives of nearly one million poor Sri Lankans in the three provinces of Uva, Southern, and Sabaragamuwa.
more »
The lights went out on the traditional 100 watt bulb on 1 September as new EU rules on energy efficiency kicked in.
more »
EU seeks new tools for measuring economic performance that give more weight to social and environmental aspects of wellbeing.
more »
Samoa is to become the first nation in nearly 40 years to swap driving on the right side of the road, to the left.
more »
Tales of survival are beginning to emerge among passengers plucked from a sinking ferry off the southern Philippines.
more »
Taking into account changes on domestic money market AB DnB NORD Bankas, a member of international financial group shall change individual and corporate time deposit rates as of 1st September.
more »
Proposal for programme to coordinate resettlement of refugees at the EU level.
more »