Azerbaijan, Baku, March 16 / Trend M.Aliyev /
Azerbaijan has announced a large-scale battle with drug addiction, Deputy Prime Minister and State Commission on Combating Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking Chairman Ali Hasanov said.
The State Commission will address a message to the public in connection with this.
"Drug trafficking attracts officials, therefore such problems should be assessed as a whole as drug corruption. The country must seriously strengthen the struggle against drug addiction, as well as corruption," Hasanov said.
Although measures in this direction h intensified in 2010, they should be further strengthened, he added.
The number of addicts in the country should be clarified, since the current figure does not reflect reality, Hasanov said.
To date, Azerbaijan has registered 25,489 drug addicts.
The State Commission on Combating Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking held today a meeting devoted to the activities in 2010.
The Education Ministry conducted educational work among pupils and students living at the border areas, Deputy Education Minister Elmar Gasimov said. Attention to out-of-school centers expand their network must be increased to combat the drug, he said.
"Attracting young people, such centers would alienate them from bad habits," Gasimov said.
The State Border Service's officers arrested 130 people (95 - citizens of Azerbaijan, 33 - Iran, one - Uzbekistan and Georgia), who tried to smuggle drugs weight more than 235 kilograms across the border, Head of the State Customs Committee's Main Directorate for Combating offenses in the customs area Guloglan Muradli said.
The drug attack on Azerbaijan from the country's southern borders does not stop, Muradli said.