Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� July, 2003

The Ninth Meeting of the Headquarters for the Promotion of Measures to Prevent Drug Abuse Tuesday, July 29, 2003 The Ninth Meeting of the Headquarters for the Promotion of Measures to Prevent Drug Abuse was held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. At the meeting, the Headquarters decided on the "Five-Year Drug Abuse Prevention Strategy" and the "Emergency Measure at the Border to Prevent Trafficking of Illicit Drugs." The "Five-Year Drug Abuse Prevention Strategy" seeks an end to the third major period of narcotics abuse of the postwar era in Japan as soon as possible. In order to realize this, the Strategy seeks strengthened educational activities for young people, a thorough regulation to eliminate drug trafficking organizations run by gangs and foreigners, stricter measures at borders, and the quantification of goals and their analysis. The "Emergency Measure at the Border to Prevent Trafficking of Illicit Drugs" includes measures to strictly deal with increasing number of the trafficking of illicit drugs in recent years by the sea route from China and North Korea. In the opening address, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said, "Solving the issue of drug abuse will require international cooperation and cross-sectional measures among the relevant ministries and agencies for education about its dangers and thorough regulation on drug trafficking organizations. I ask you to redouble your efforts to put an end to the third period of narcotics abuse under the auspices of the new Five-Year Strategy and the Emergency Measure at the Border."