MIRI: Parents have been urged to monitor closely their children’s activities and circle of friends to curb their involvement in drug abuse.
Assistant Minister of Communication Datuk Lee Kim Shin said it is vital for parents to set good examples for children to learn at home.
“Having good relationship and healthy communication with the children will enable them to grow closer to their parents and have a healthy two-way communication.”
“At the same time, parents can influence their children and monitor their activities easily,” he said during the launching of the local branch of Malaysian Drug Prevention Association (Pemadam)’s fund -raising dinner held recently.
Moreover, Lee said in this modern era of high speed Internet access, parents faced tougher challenges and needed to create new approaches to educating their children effectively.
“In relation to drug abuse within the community, it is worrying when we hear cases of young people involved in the illegal activity without their parents knowledge.
“In the old days, we only heard about opium and marijuana cases, but today there are many highly dangerous illegal drugs such as synthetic pills,” he said.
Lee also said most of the crime cases were drug-addict related, which made it undeniably more worrying.
Thus, he urged all parties including parents, teachers and the public to work closely with the related agencies in curbing the problems of drug abuse in the area.
At the fund-raising dinner, Lee gave a grant of RM3,000 for the association to fund their annual activities.
Assistant Minister of Public Utilities Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi Utom also donated RM3,000 to the association.
Also present at the dinner was Pemadam Miri chairman Boniface Intang Apat, its deputy chairman Pemanca Wilson Siang Lim and vice-chairman Charles Soo.