2015
Asia Pacific Forum Against Drugs (2015)
26 August 2015
The National Council Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) was proud to organise the first ever Asia Pacific Forum Against Drugs (APFAD) in Singapore on 27 August 2015. This has been NCADA’s biggest step in fighting for anti-drug advocacy in the international arena to date.
APFAD was attended by 197 participants from both local and overseas representatives involved in the anti-drug work. The forum advocated zero tolerance against drugs.
We were honoured to have had Mr. Masagos Zulkifli, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, gracing APFAD as the Guest-of-Honour.
Background
NCADA recognises that the Asian representation at international forums against drugs has been small and countries with the zero tolerance stance against drugs are fragmented. APFAD thus served as an important platform to bring together the anti-drug lobby groups which could include NGOs and government agencies within Asia through a knowledge sharing platform.
Through APFAD 2015, NCADA hopes to foster closer collaboration among like-minded anti-drug advocates to organise early and jointly push to resist the pro-drug liberalisation agenda at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs in 2016.
Topics and Speakers
APFAD 2015 covered new anti-drug challenges such as cannabis abuse and legalisation, as well as share best practices in preventive community education methods, treatment and rehabilitation. In particular, the four key topics discussed at APFAD are as follows:
- The road to United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs 2016
- New challenges in the anti-drug scene - Cannabis
- Preventive Education - Understanding motivations of youths; and
- Treatment and Rehabilitation – A holistic response, and Sharing by a Practitioner.
Experts from overseas and local organisations spoke on these topics, and the speakers’ profile and presentation summaries can be found here.