Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) – The President of the Commission for Social Pastoral Care who works with drug-affected youth, Bishop Jorge Lozano, challenged the way which the problem of drug addiction is being handled, referring to the expression, “problem drug use”, a phrase which is the title of a book distributed by the Government to all state schools. It is “ambiguous” language said Bishop Lozano, since “to speak of the problematic use of drugs is to use ambiguous language, which is not enough to describe what really happens when you take drugs.”
The law establishing a national program of prevention and education on drug abuse and addiction is awaiting a specific ruling for more than a year now. The book entitled “The prevention of problem drug use, an educational approach”, by Graciela Touzé was distributed in 2010 to all state schools, as part of a prevention program with respect to the “problematic use” of drugs.
Bishop Lozano points out that in some of these publications delivered to young people with the aim of reducing the damages caused by drug use “they explain, for example, how to inhale in order to reduce the risks. This ends up being a double-edged sword, because it suggests that there are safe ways to take drugs.” Bishop Lozano added: “I heard from some civil servant that for 75% of youth drug use is recreational. But something that is harmful to health is not something recreational, like sport.”
The campaign entitled “Getting into drugs is easier than getting out” was recently launched (21 February) by the Argentine Episcopal Conference, which also refers to the latest United Nations report, which states that Argentina is the Latin American country with the highest drug use. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 12/03/2011)
