To fight against the menace of drugs, private and public sector companies of Singapore have joined hands and pledged their commitment to the United Against Drugs Coalition.
The coalition is an initiative of the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the National Council Against Drug Abuse and its main aim is to form a strong network of individuals who spread the anti-drugs message within their areas of influence.
The 10 private companies which are part of the coalition include world famous KFC, Singapore Post (SingPost), Pastamania, Clarke Quay, Tenderfresh, Gongcha, Central Perk, Fat Papa’s Burger, I am… and Reebonz. In addition to this, various public sector companies, schools and community partners form part of the coalition.
Ng Ser Song, director of CNB, said, “The way CNB approaches preventive drug education has changed, with focus on educating and engaging the community, and on co-creation of content with stakeholders, so as to develop and maintain self-sustaining advocacy networks.”
SingPost’s vice president of Corporate Sustainability Selena Chong was also elated to join the cause. She said, “The popularity of e-commerce means larger numbers of parcels are now moving across borders through mail and parcel delivery systems. We are committed to be vigilant in our inspection and screening processes to detect concealed narcotics, and also collaborate with CNB as part of the coalition.”
Speaking during CNB’s Workplan Seminar 2017, Amrin Amin, Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs said the agency needs to ready itself for the future in light of new challenges and urged for using social media to reach out to youths.
He said, “We need to keep up with the times and latest trends. We need to use humour, wit, youth lingo to present information in a digestible format, the way our young are used to, to send youths the serious and hard messages, to empower them to lead a drug-free lifestyle.”
CNB will also be using technology to automate manual tasks so that officers can better focus on their core work.