Antidrug program targets schools

JAKARTA (JP): Executives of the Bersama antidrug non- governmental organization (NGO) have met with City Council representatives to discuss the launch of an anti-narcotics campaign here.

Bersama chairman Putera Astaman said at Wednesday's meeting that the campaign was aimed at building awareness among local youths of the danger of drug abuse.

The antidrug campaign will visit all city schools, from elementary to senior high, Astaman, a retired police major general, said.

Mochammad Amman, the chief of Bersama's working group division, said: "We haven't decided the exact date to launch the campaign but we hope that it will start this year."

Amman highlighted the importance of children knowing the danger of drugs and alcohol abuse in their early years.

"If they are anti-narcotics from childhood it will be easier to prevent them from abusing drugs later," he said.

Bersama, established in 1978, is the only organization appointed by the government to coordinate all antidrug campaigns in Indonesia.

The organization is a member of the International Federation of NGOs which has links to the UN's World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization and UNESCO.

President Soeharto is the patron of Bersama and several cabinet ministers are among its advisory board members.

Amman also underlined the need for the school students organization, OSIS, to participate in the campaign.

"A lack of school attention to this issue can foster the problems of drug abuse," he said. (07/bsr)