The National Anti-Drug Secretariat\u2019s (SENAD) Demand Reduction Department, together with municipalities and neighborhoods in Asunci\u00f3n, is carrying out a variety of activities as part of its Community Prevention Program.<\/p>\n
Beginning in April, the Day Center will be open to children and minors in Asunci\u00f3n with a history of drug abuse. They will receive guidance about their addiction and will be encouraged to participate in healthy activities and tasks that keep them away from vices, said Luis Chaparro, the community program\u2019s coordinator in the city of \u00d1emby, 20 kilometers from Asunci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n
In the beginning, the program will focus on neighborhoods in the capital city and its surrounding areas before it\u2019s offered in cities in the country\u2019s interior, Chaparro added. Following the start of classes in March, teachers who specialize in different educational levels received training on how to treat young people battling addiction, Chaparro said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeachers will be able to direct the students with drug addiction problems to the Day Center without removing them from the educational environment,\u201d he added.\u00a0 Authorities can also choose not to prosecute minors facing drug charges if they are receiving treatment at the Day Center.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Now) \u2026 young persons involved with drugs are sent directly to the courts, where they receive a criminal record for drug possession or consumption, which will be with them for the rest of their lives,\u201d Chaparro said. \u201cThe aim is to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
SENAD Communications Director Francisco Ayala added the goal is \u201cto help young people, not stigmatize them. Societal discrimination can often lead to even worse situations,\u201d he said. Students advised to become involved at the Day Center will be able to go to the facility immediately after their classes, Chaparro added.\u00a0 \u201cIf a young person attends school in the morning, he or she can come to the Day Center in the afternoon, or vice versa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Inaugural summer camp exceeds expectations<\/p>\n
The first activity carried out under the framework of the Community Prevention Program was the Santa Aventura summer camp, which brought together 500 students between the ages of 5 and 19 during the final weeks of January.\u00a0\u00a0 The summer camp was held at the San Antonio de Padua Parish in the city of \u00d1emby. It offered workshops in dance, music, creativity, photography, painting, sports and self-defense, in addition to classes in the electrical and plumbing trades.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese programs are useful in raising awareness that there are other ways to eliminate idleness and the misuse of time that often lead them to fall into bad habits such as the use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs,\u201d Chaparro said.<\/p>\n
Chaparro added that Santa Aventura also received a lot of interest from parents seeking more information about drug addiction prevention.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cMany of them don\u2019t know where to turn or what to do when their child is in a situation like this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Parents \u201chave a desire to prevent [drug and alcohol abuse], and to do something for their children,\u201d added Graciela Barreto, the general coordinator of SENAD\u2019s community prevention programs.\u00a0\u00a0 Since September, A School for Parents has been under<\/p>\n
development, hosting classes on prevention that are open to the public and held on the last Saturday of every month at SENAD\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe workshops draw parents from cities throughout the Central Department, as well as the interior of the country,\u201d Ayala said. \u201cAt these meetings, we hear about the different situations that parents of addicts are facing. They also provide us with guidance as to where we should focus our attention when implementing activities aimed at counteracting the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marijuana, crack and cocaine continue to be the country\u2019s most heavily consumed drugs. As of late 2013, SENAD had seized more than 500 tons of marijuana \u2013 324 more tons than during all of 2012 \u2013 five tons of crack and three tons of cocaine.<\/p>\n
More information about the SENAD\u2019s drug prevention programs can be found at http:\/\/www.senad.gov.py. http:\/\/www.senad.gov.py.<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0 http:\/\/infosurhoy.com\u00a0\u00a0 18th March 2014<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The National Anti-Drug Secretariat\u2019s (SENAD) Demand Reduction Department, together with municipalities and neighborhoods in Asunci\u00f3n, is carrying out a variety of activities as part of its Community Prevention Program. Beginning in April, the Day Center will be open to children and minors in Asunci\u00f3n with a history of drug abuse. They will receive guidance about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,40,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-others","category-prevention-research","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}