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
OSCE SAYS BELARUSIAN ELECTIONS 'SIGNIFICANTLY SHORT' OF DEMOCRATIC STANDARDS...
more »
More than 1,000 people, many of them students, gathered in central Minsk tonight to protest against the referendum
more »
Belarusians overwhelmingly approved a referendum on scrapping presidential term limits, the Central Elections Comission announced Monday
more »
Belarus votes on whether Lukashenko can stand for third term, amid Western concerns
more »
Belarus goes to the polls tomorrow, but the President's opponents have a nasty habit of disappearing
more »
The group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, Iraq`s most wanted man, claimed responsibility for the attacks in Baghdad`s Green Zone
more »
A five-year plan to bolster Latvian communities abroad and to provide information about opportunities in the homeland has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in Rīga
more »
Lithuania's Labor Party, led by Viktor Uspaskich, won general election
more »
Russian authorities have arrested senior police officers from the southern republic of Ingushetia, in relation to the school siege in the North Ossetian town of Beslan last month
more »
Poland's President Recommends EU Referendum in 2005
more »