The illicit trafficking of drugs will not be tolerated in Vietnam, that was the message delivered by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung as he ordered all ministries and localities to launch crack downs between May 26 and September 26, in order to mark the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (June 26).

The PM's message came as the country is reviewing a decade long war on drugs that has seen the government’s action plan for drug prevention and control encompass the majority of society.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, since 1997, police have uncovered more than 111,000 cases of drug smuggling cases and arrested more than 190,000 people while confiscating caches of opium, heroin, marijuana, ecstasy and other banned narcotics.

Anti-drug forces have also detected, tracked down and broken up a bevy of transnational drug trafficking rings while sending thousands of addicts to rehabilitation centres.

The action plan has also been hard at work in rural areas of the country as swathes of opium poppy fields have been eradicated while working in conjunction with agricultural, economic, rural development and resettlement programmes, the fields have been replaced by cash crops.

The plan’s enforcement has been hailed as key to the large reduction of drug related crimes in towns and cities throughout the country. According to the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, there is no presence of drug crimes in over 4,000 communes and towns in Vietnam, accounting for 47% of the country’s total communes and towns.

However, the Ministry of Public Security sent a warning that drug use and trafficking in Vietnam has evolved and is more often than not directly affected by regional and international circumstances. Drugs flowing into the country have yet to be fully eradicated while the number of drug addicts continues to rise and smuggling rings become more sophisticated.

Ministries and localities have been asked to closely observe business activities of restaurants, hotels, bars and karaoke shops in order to prevent drug use and trafficking. (VNA)