Lim Tong Huot, the director of the National Authority for Combating Drug’s (NACD) Legislation, Education and Rehabilitation Department, said a three-day campaign on drug awareness was carried out during the Water Festival.

Under the theme Join Together for a Drug-free Life and Community, the campaign included banners, with 80,000 leaflets on drug awareness distributed to the public.

Tong Huot said the campaign was launched to mobilise a community movement for the joint prevention of drug-related problems.

“Our educational message for the campaign was to focus mainly on the theme of Join Together for a Drug-free Life and Community.

“Our group distributed a total of 80,000 leaflets and pictures related to drug issues to Water Festival-goers. Most people believe drugs are a danger to our society,” Tong Huot said.

According to Tong Huot, over 300 people from relevant institutions cooperated to launch the campaign. They included members of the Committee on Drug Control, the private sector and youth from the Cambodian Red Cross and the Scouts, as well as representatives from the six Mekong River countries.

“The staff and former drug users from the Orkas Knhom Centre shared their experiences in providing services to addicts and in informing the public about the dangers of drug use,” Phnom Penh Department of Social Affairs director Mom Chandany, who participated in the campaign, said on Wednesday.

According to the National Police, anti-drug officers arrested 17 people in relation to drug crimes nationwide on Tuesday.

Of the 17 suspects, 11 were targeted drug dealers and six were drug users.