25-06-2023

Manama, June 25 (BNA): Lieutenant General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Minister of Interior and Chairman of the National Committee for Drug Control, witnessed today, Sunday, the celebration of the International Day for Drug Control, in the presence of the Ministers of Social Development, Health, and Youth Affairs, in addition to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Nationality, Passports, Residence, Governors, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior, the Head of the Information and eGovernment Authority, the Inspector General, and a number of senior officials. On this occasion, His Excellency the Minister of Interior delivered a speech in which he stated: It gives me great pleasure to meet all of you in our meeting on the occasion of the World Anti-Drug Day. As is well known, the United Nations General Assembly issued a resolution in 1987 defining that the twenty-sixth of June of each year be the International Day against Drugs, in recognition of the global danger of drug repercussions. According to United Nations reports for the year 2022, there are more than 270 million people using drugs. As for our situation in Bahrain, praise be to God, by reviewing the drug-related reports, there has been no increase over the past three years, and the rate has stabilized at less than 3% relative to the rest of the criminal reports. Here, I am pleased to thank the General Department of Investigation and Criminal Evidence, especially the Drug Enforcement Department, for their sincere and continuous efforts to fulfill their security responsibility, and thanks go out to all those who contributed and cooperated with us from ministries, institutions and individuals. Distinguished audience.. In order for us to achieve a successful and effective fight against drugs, we must continue to fight drugs at the borders, fight them in our schools, youth centers and sports clubs, fight them in our homes, and fight them in the press and cyberspace. We are, in fact, combating the spread of drugs, with knowledge, conviction, patriarchal responsibility and national responsibility. It is undoubtedly a dangerous global security phenomenon, and it is incumbent upon us all to cooperate to combat it.. It is no secret to you, honorable men, that we are dealing and focusing in our security arena today, in addition to combating drugs, on a number of security phenomena and challenges, such as combating corruption, in addition to following up on electronic and ethical transgressions, as well as following up on any traffic chaos. Honorable audience, as you can see, security issues are mostly issues affecting societal security. Therefore, it is the security duty and responsibility that each one of us play his role in the service of security and public order, so that we can achieve a safe environment suitable for a decent life, within the framework of the tolerant values that we have inherited, so that the country enjoys prosperity and blessings, under the leadership of the leader of the path of goodness and dignity and the guardian of our security and sovereignty, Sir, His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the great King of the country, may God protect and preserve him. For his part, the Director General of the General Department of Investigation and Criminal Evidence confirmed, in his speech delivered on this occasion, that the instructions of His Excellency the Minister of Interior were credited with accomplishing the tasks and duties entrusted to the Public Administration and the security and legal responsibilities it carries out within the framework of preserving the security and safety of the homeland. . He also expressed his full pride in the role of the members of the National Committee for Drug Control and the work team responsible for following up the implementation of the objectives of the National Drug Control Plan in its second edition, for their efforts and follow-up to implement the goals and initiatives included in the national plan, appreciating the response of all implementation partners and their constant communication with team members, praising the community awareness, which has become entrenched among many segments of society and all its spectrums of the dangers of drugs, which requires strengthening community partnership between official and private agencies to combat it. The celebration included the showing of a documentary film on national efforts to combat drugs, stressing that drug control is primarily a societal responsibility, and is carried out through two main tracks: the first is combating supply and demand, and the second is building a modern awareness system that adopts modern technologies as a method and approach. In a related context, a briefing was presented on the national project to monitor and increase recovery rates from drug addiction using artificial intelligence, which is the first of its kind in the Middle East, in terms of using this technology to solve this problem. The project aims to identify individuals most at risk of relapse using a variety of artificial intelligence techniques and to provide support to families and psychological supporters during the stages of treatment and recovery. At the end of the ceremony, His Excellency the Minister of Interior honored a number of collaborators in the field of drug control, wishing everyone success in serving the country.