Today is International Drug Day

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has by proclamation declared Friday, June 26, 2015, as “International Drug Day”, to be observed throughout the Republic as a Working Holiday.

According to the Proclamation, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) will join the International Community in the celebration of this Year’s International Day Against Drugs Abuse and its Illicit Trafficking under the theme: “Lets develop our lives, our communities our identities without drugs”.

Moreover, the Proclamation further called upon the Citizens, all Government Ministries, Agencies and International Organizations concerned to join the DEA in executing appropriate programs befitting the occasion.

The Government of Liberia, by an Act of the National Legislature in 1999, created the DEA with the authority to combat the importation, illicit trafficking and use of dangerous drugs.

The Proclamation asserts that the intent of the observance of the day is to sensitize the public about drugs and its devastating effects on individuals, families and communities, and to mobilize communities and other stakeholders against the use of such substances.

Drugs abuse and its illicit trafficking have posed major problems to the human race and millions of people worldwide continue to be affected directly or indirectly, the Proclamation noted.

On December 7, 1987, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Resolution 42/112, which set aside the 26th day of June each year as International Day Against Illicit Trafficking of Drugs and other Substances of Abuse to be celebrated worldwide.