Rashid stresses need to control borders to prevent drug smuggling and combat corruption

INA-  Baghdad

President of the Republic Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid stressed on Wednesday the need to control the borders to prevent drug smuggling and combat corruption.

A statement of the presidency of the republic received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), said that "the president of the Republic, Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, received today at the Baghdad Palace, the delegation of the parliamentary committee to combat drugs and Psychotropic Substances headed by Adnan al-juhayshi".

The president of the Republic praised the formation of the committee, expressing "readiness to support it and achieve its goals and plans for all provinces to reduce the spread of drugs,"according to the statement.

He pointed to the" need for the committee to include representatives from the governorates, "stressing the need to take several initial steps in this file and strengthen them through holding seminars and awareness workshops, as well as the establishment of institutions specialized in rehabilitating cases of abuse.

He pointed out in his conversation with the members of the committee, "the need to build a conscious culture through the media, and also touched upon the call for the establishment of the Drug Control and Treatment Fund in draft law No. 50 of 2017, where work was done to fill many of the gaps in it through the draft amendment to the law submitted by the presidency of the Republic to the Parliament ".

The president of the Republic stressed"the importance of approving realistic and effective recommendations to address a persistent problem that needs a serious pause through border control to prevent drug smuggling and combat corruption".

For their part, the members of the delegation stressed that "the committee was formed from (15) members of the parliament and work was carried out to establish a database," noting that "the committee is the only one specialized in drugs in the Arab parliaments".

The delegation stated that" work is underway to establish sanatoriums in all governorates to treat addiction cases, "stressing"the need to support and assign officers and associates assigned to the duty of combating drugs.

The delegation also pointed out that "the media is an essential partner in the anti-drug process and its role must be activated in order to achieve the goals and objectives of raising awareness and protecting our communities from this dangerous scourge".