LAHORE: In a bid to protect youth from drug addiction and engage them in healthy activities, the Punjab government is all set to launch a campaign titled “Save a Life” in Lahore by March 15.

At present, the campaign’s design, advocacy and training phase is under way and it will complete by March 10.

“Initially, the campaign was named ‘Whistle Blower’ but we recently changed it to ‘Save a Life’ as it was legally clashing with the name of Whistle Blower Protection and Vigilance Commission Act, 2019,” Social Welfare Department Director General Mudassir Riaz Malik told Dawn on Sunday.

“The Save a Life campaign will initially be for Lahore but it will be expanded to other districts of Punjab at a later stage,” he said, adding that the department would complete the design, advocacy and training phase before March 10 to be able to launch it at the grassroots level by March 15.

Campaign is likely to be launched by March 15

According to the Social Welfare and Baitul Mal Department, the adolescent substance use takes its toll on the nation in direct and indirect ways. It says that drug use can lead to diminished economic opportunity, incarceration, addiction, and death. The full societal cost of these outcomes is staggering. Younger children now have access to drugs more easily than before, and more of them say they know people who use illegal drugs.

Youth vulnerability to drug use initiation is heightened during periods of transition, such as the transition from elementary school to middle school, and the transition from middle school to high school and in certain situations, such as when large amounts of time are spent in settings unsupervised by a responsible adult.

“The transitions are accompanied by important developmental and environmental changes that challenge an adolescent’s intellectual, social, and emotional coping skills. Most of the leading causes of death for this age group – motor vehicle crashes, homicide, injury, and suicide – are more likely to occur when one is under the influence of psychoactive substances. Drug use by adolescents accelerates their transition into adulthood, but does not give them the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills and abilities for a successful transition.

“At the very least, the time adolescents spend under the influence of drugs is wasted time – a sort of hiatus in normal development,” explains a report compiled by the department.

The report reveals that almost 70% of children between the ages of 14 and 16 in Lahore are going to school. And unfortunately a large number of them are using drugs inside and outside the institutions, thus creating a huge challenge for the authorities and the communities at large. Since parents and teachers have a crucial role in ensuring upbringing of healthy drug free youth, the department decided to launch this campaign that aims at addressing a range of goals that include demand reduction, reduction of drug-related crime and violence, and reduction of drug-related health and social cost with the ultimate goal to save the youth from the use of illicit drugs.

Under a methodology, the department will set up a helpline for reporting the use of drugs in various educational institutions. The identity of the person reporting the use of drugs will be kept secret and the respective educational institution will be conveyed about the complaint to take further necessary action against the drug use.

A multi-pronged approach will be used to achieve the desired outcomes that include establishing a helpline, training and capacity building of helpline service providers, raising awareness in the public about the whistleblower helpline number and campaign, educating the students, parents, teachers and other non-teaching staff, ensure awareness about the campaign and the effects of illicit drug use, on electronic, print and social media forums, preparing a comprehensive directory and referral network to state the available forums of counselling and rehabilitation, including the Model Drug Abuse Centers of the Social Welfare Department and rendering services at six hospitals of Lahore.

“The advocacy and training sessions are being held under the Colombo plan. We have also signed MoUs with the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and the University of Management & Technology (UMT). And once we complete this phase, we will enter in the campaign’s execution phase under which a series of activities (seminars, workshops, group discussions etc) would begin across Lahore,” the DG explained.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2022