National Narcotics Control Bureau

Demand Reduction

Demand reduction interventions can be divided into three sub areas:

1. Primary prevention interventions, which are aimed at preventing individuals from starting to abuse drugs;

2. Secondary prevention interventions, which are aimed at treating and rehabilitating those who have started to take drugs and, finally,

3. Tertiary prevention interventions, which are aimed at reducing the harm of drug abuse for both the abusers themselves as well as the surrounding society.

The area of demand reduction is equally the responsibility of several government ministries and non-government and organizations including the ministries of health, education, social welfare, as well as youth, and NGOs working in the areas of sport, leisure, mass media, as well as those with a specific focus on drug control.

Interventions in the area of drug demand reduction focus on drug abuse prevention targeting school children, parents, and the citizens in general. This includes imparting life skills to school children, teaching parenting skills and promoting drug free workplaces. Drug treatment and rehabilitation are being strengthened through training and a possible introduction of new rehabilitation methods.

Drug prevention education activities fall under the mandate of the NNCB. The NNCB carries out comprehensive and specialized drug awareness programs for the community on inhabited islands. School-based awareness programs target students, teachers and parents, while the atoll awareness programs target atoll chiefs, island chiefs, health care workers, teachers and island community members.

The NNCB collaborates with such other governmental organizations as the Ministries of Education, Gender and Family, Youth and Sports, Atolls Development, Information, and Arts, the Maldives Customs Service and the Maldives Police Service, and such non-governmental organizations as FASHAN and SHE for awareness generation and prevention. Currently the involvement of the health sector in drug related treatment and rehabilitation is relatively small. Psychiatrists attached to the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) share their expertise with NNCB as and when requested and also provide consultation services to drug addicts with co-morbid psychiatric conditions. The Ministry of Health also participates in the advisory committee of the NNCB and provides advice on the treatment decisions and rehabilitation of drug dependents.

A basic program of awareness creation was launched in 1998 in collaboration with the Police, Customs, Children's Unit of Gender Ministry, Society for Health Education (SHE), and Fashan. This program was implemented in 128 islands in 15 atolls.

The Challenge

Illicit drugs are a global impediment to the social and economic development of nations. The impact of the drug scourge has been particularly severe on the Maldives, threatening her prosperity, good health, and indeed her whole future.

In the past decade we have intensified our efforts to stop the drug menace. But we, as a nation, need to do even more to ensure that criminals, who put their own interests before those of the nation, do not take our common heritage away from us.

The lesson we learn from other countries is that drug abuse is a hydra-like multifaceted issue. It requires a balanced well-coordinated multi-sectoral approach, encompassing measures to stop illicit drugs from entering the country and to reduce the demand for them. Both these aspects are equally important and need to be given the same, high priority.

We, therefore, call upon all Maldivians, as indeed the international community, to support fully our efforts to eliminate the scourge of illicit drugs from the Maldives and beyond our borders. This is the challenge and we must commit ourselves to this challenge.