AN ALLIANCE TO END DRUG ABUSE IN THE

PHILIPPINES

Philippines National Police officers complete their training as Drug-Free World instructors and trainers.

In a country beset by international drug trafficking and

domestic drug abuse, the national police team up with
Foundation for a Drug-Free World to pilot the solution.
With “porous borders” and the crannies of its archipelago, the Philippines is
an easy target for drug traffickers to exploit. It is both a drug-consuming
nation and a trans-shipment hub for methamphetamines, of which it boasts
the highest usage rate in East Asia. According to the Dangerous Drugs
Board, 1.8 million Filipinos are using illegal drugs.

“Drugs are a huge problem in the Philippines—it simply is a scourge,” says

Drug-Free World Ambassador Robert Anderson. “There is a big anti-drug
push in the country and the police are the ones on the streets, so they want
The Truth About Drugs.”

Anderson organized a two-and-a-half-day pilot training for 100 Philippines

National Police (PNP) officers in 2016. General Benjamin Macalong, PNP
Deputy Director for Operations, officiated the launch.
The officers were taught to deliver the full Truth About Drugs curriculum and
drilled on tough questions youth ask and real-life scenarios. It might be
assumed all police are experts on drugs, but this is not so, says one PNP
officer: “As a good father who doesn’t drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, I
don’t know about illegal drugs…. This seminar is very important for me.”

In addition to learning to deliver the curriculum, the officers trained as

trainers so that when they returned to their respective communities they
were then able to train more officers to deliver the curriculum. To seed
delivery, each graduate received a supply of The Truth About Drugs booklets
in both English and Tagalog. On returning home, they got into immediate
delivery to local schools and community groups.

Following this successful pilot, the PNP officially partnered with Drug-Free
World for a national rollout of The Truth About Drugs program. Witnessing
the pilot, the Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency and Dangerous Drugs
Board joined the next training held in July 2017 to 107 people, who were
then gotten into immediate delivery themselves.

From initial overwhelm at the drug problem, officers and officials graduated
with hope and purpose. As one expressed, “Having this kind of training
made me alarmed and gave me purpose to do something, something that
can be beneficial to youth….Thank you very much to the members of the
Foundation for a Drug-Free World for helping and supporting us—the Filipino
people—to eradicate drug abuse.…This is something worthy to treasure
and remember.”