The ASEAN Preventive Drug Education Portal supports the implementation of the Preventive Education section under the ASEAN Work Plan. ASOD delegates from the Preventive Education Working Group are encouraged to contribute their resources and experience to develop its capabilities. There are three components under the Preventive Education section.
1. Promotes awareness through educational campaigns across the region, aiming to build the resilience of youth against drugs and convey to communities the impact of drugs on at-risk groups
This is achieved by:
- Adopting ASEAN’s common symbol, the green-and-white ribbon, for preventive education activities and the campaigns against drugs
- Developing an ASEAN campaign focused on preventing drug abuse, encouraging young people to say no to drugs, and educating the general public about the risks of drug addiction
- Convening national and regional-scale educational activities
- Developing national campaigns, as appropriate, focused on preventing the trafficking of illicit drugs by vulnerable individuals/groups
- Announcing the ban of and serious punishments for drug smuggling on international flights, and displaying such warnings at land/sea border checkpoints
- Integrating a prevention curriculum programme into national educational systems and/or other educational institutions
2. Develops and implements regional programmes to reach out-of-school youth and other at-risk groups
This is achieved by:
- Continuing to share experiences and best practices among ASEAN Member States
- Collaborating with national agencies and social organisations, where relevant, to conduct workshops and/or seminars on developing programmes that reach out to out-of-school youth and other at-risk groups
- Considering to include a ‘self-resilience’ component to early intervention programmes, encouraging highly at-risk groups, including out-of-school youths to say no to drugs
3. Formulates and implements family-based, school-based, community-based, workplace-based and environment-based practices and policies based on scientific evidence
This is achieved by:
- Adopting evidence-based practices and policies based on international standards in prevention, where applicable, to suit the unique situation of each ASEAN Member State
Ultimately, the goal is to achieve a ‘Drug-Free ASEAN’ by successfully and effectively addressing illicit drug activities and mitigating their negative consequences to society, to achieve this through the sustainable reduction of illicit crop cultivation, illicit manufacture and trafficking of drugs and drug-related crimes, and illicit drug use.