AMERICA/ARGENTINA - The campaign against drug abuse, a scourge for thousands of young people, restarts in Jujuy

Jujuy (Agenzia Fides) - Jointly organized by the Diocese of Jujuy and the foundation "Manos Abiertas", the campaign to combat the consumption of drugs restarts. The first campaign was launched in Jujuy in November 2010. The first initiative of this year's conference is titled "Addictions in the house, what challenges us?", which will be held on March 6 at Nostra Signora dell'Orto, in the city of San Salvador de Jujuy.
The program of the conference provides for the intervention of Msg. César Daniel Fernández, Bishop of the Diocese of Jujuy, who continues to promote activities to tackle this scourge, especially in light of the guidelines issued by the Assembly of Argentine Bishops contained in the document "The tragedy of drug abuse and drug trafficking". Another speaker will be a Jesuit priest Fernando Cervera, a specialist in the field, who has spent 20 years working for prevention and treatment.
The note sent to Fides by a local source, reports that the diocese is trying to involve the whole community to work to solve a social problem that affects all but is handled badly in families. In Argentina there are currently about 180 thousand addicts of so-called "drug of the poor", each of whom "buys an average of 20 doses per day", which cost 6 pesos each. PACO, is the third dependency in the country, after alcohol and drug addiction.
In addition to these data collected by Fides, updated in November 2013, the National Pastoral for drugs in Buenos Aires, indicates that 10 % of the population between 15 and 64 years of age uses a drug, while 15 % of adolescents in their final years of study in high schools make use of marijuana, a figure that rises to 30% just on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. This Pastoral also highlights that "the country lacks a global public policy" to address this problem. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 05/03/2014)