In the first six months of this year, the police have seized more than 800kg of drugs, including 14,000 marijuana plants, and detained more than 7,000 people, according a National Police’s anti-drug department report.

The report said that from January 1 to June 25, anti-drug officers had detained 7,053 people, including 377 women, in 3,149 drug cases. Of the 7,053 suspects, 120 were foreigners of eight different nationalities.

The authorities also impounded 47 cars, 818 motorcycles, five pistols, 18 rifles and 11 home-made guns, among others.

Soeur Socheata – undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport who is also head of the working group on the development of lesson plans to prevent and control illicit drug use – said on June 28 that the ministry had been focused on disseminating knowledge about the dangers and problems caused by drugs to students nationwide.

She said the ministry had also been setting up digital libraries to spread knowledge and lessons related to the problems caused by drugs to the public and students.

“The education ministry has prepared study materials for teaching students at the primary and secondary levels. The working group was established to prepare teaching documents, books and training about teaching methods for educating our students about the problems caused by drugs,” she said.

Socheata hoped that with the cooperation of all stakeholders, including state institutions and civil society groups, the drug-related problems in Cambodia can be minimised and eliminated in the future.