Every year, on May 31, WHO and partners mark World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.
On this day, four young leaders of the fourth Seychelles Young Leaders Programme (SYLP) cohort namely, Rodney Sinon, Jude Fred, Sibylla Mederic and Betty Mondon, started a local project under the slogan ‘Get High on Grades not Drugs’. This outreach project, which is part of their Master’s degree course, targeted a group of 13 to 14-year-old students at Mont Fleuri secondary school with the aim of promoting the benefit of successfully completing a school education and not be influenced by temptations and influence of illegal drugs.
Meanwhile the SYLP team reached out with a concerned group of students through an interactive session about the dangers of drugs on the human brain and body, on the importance of knowing the types of drugs that are circulating on the street and how to avoid bad influences which can lead to an addiction to these illegal drugs.
On World No Tobacco Day of 2016, the WHO promoted plain packaging as an important demand reduction measure that reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products, restricts use of tobacco packaging as a form of tobacco advertising and promotion. This action by WHO shows that information sharing builds on one’s knowledge to choose not to smoke just as guiding young minds towards a better route against substance abuse like marijuana and heroin.
It is the ultimate vision of the four SYLP team that a proper infrastructure and branches be set up for clear roles and duties of each department.
The team believes that to combat drugs, there should be a proper prevention, community empowerment, eradication, scientific investments and legislation departments working under the same head for strategic and effective use of resources and outcomes in our rising numbers of young drug addict young people.
Source : Seychelles NATION