Students from various high schools and colleges took out a rally through the main roads of the city on Monday to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
The event was jointly organised by the district administration, Departments of Police, Health and Family Welfare, Zilla Panchayat and various social and voluntary organisations.
The United Nations’ 2016 theme “Listen First” was highlighted on the occasion, to make families and society to first listen to children and youth as a first step to help them grow healthy and safe.
‘Listen First’ is an initiative to increase support for prevention of drug use that is based on science and is thus an effective investment in the well-being of children and youth, their families and their communities, said a Health Department official by quoting abstracts from the theme.
Students sported placards displaying messages aimed at creating awareness on the disastrous effect of intoxication from drugs on individual and society’s health and economy. Placards with messages against illicit trafficking and appeals on protecting children, particularly girls, were also on display.
One of the placards showed the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s message, calling upon countries and communities to “continue to improve the lives of everyone blighted by drug abuse by integrating security and public safety with a heightened focus on health, human rights, and sustainable development.”
The rally, which began from College Road, ended at Kumar Gandharva Rangamandir.
