A drug free tomorrow

There has been a lot of press about Singapore's dealing (pun intended) with drugs. Today I had a chance to look at the other side. The Central Narcotics Bureau has a set of ongoing activities to prevent you from getting started on drug use.

Together with Adamsapple they started an animation competition for schools and tertiary education about drug prevention. I was invited to be on the panel of judges to rate the competition entries. We had a look at the entries in three categories: primary schools, secondary schools and tertiary education. Judgement criteria were items like: story line, visual apperance, clear message, creativity and innovativeness.

It was refreshing to see how clearly the students saw the issues that lead to drug addiction (at least here): stress & pressure, curiosity, peer pressure, personal difficulties, social context were clearly mapped out. Being Singapore a recurring theme was the risk of being imprisoned. One entry however, which I liked best, highlighted the self responsibility as core of a drug free life.