AMERICA/ARGENTINA - A video against drugs: the Church launches a campaign on social networking sites

Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) - The Church has launched a national campaign for the prevention of drug addiction in which the protagonists are young people using new technologies.
The idea is that each person records a video with their mobile phone, tablet or video camera about the problems of drug abuse.
Each video will then be sent to a special website where the images will be assembled and edited. Once it is ready, the video will be posted on the appropriate pages of the site in order to be used by schools, churches or social organizations.
A note sent to Fides reports that the campaign, which has the slogan "Activate your senses: ask yourself-ask him. Activate the network", was presented yesterday at the headquarters of the Argentine Episcopal Conference by the President of the Commission for Social Pastoral, Mgr. Jorge Lozano, by the coordinator of the Pastoral for drug addiction, Horacio Reyser and by Mercedes Sanguinetti, a representative of a group of young people engaged in social networks against drugs, human trafficking and violence in schools.
The Church in Argentina has been denouncing for some time the increase in the consumption and trafficking of drugs, stating that it is one of the most serious problems in the country (see Fides 28/03/2014). A decade ago the Ministry for drug addiction was created, which deals with the prevention and rehabilitation of drug addicts.
In Argentina there are currently about 180 000 consumers of the so-called "drug of the poor," PACO (cocaine base paste), each of whom buys an average of 20 doses per day, which costs 6 pesos each. PACO dependence is the third in the country, after alcohol and medicine (see Fides 05/03/2014). (CE) (Agenzia Fides 18/06/2014)