Mayor wants new thrust in Cebu City’s anti-drug campaign

IN fighting the illegal drug menace, the Cebu City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Cadac) will have to come up with preventive measures rather than reactionary solutions, Mayor Edgardo Labella said.

This is the challenge the mayor posed to the new set of officers of CADAC during their oath-taking Thursday morning, Aug. 15, 2019.

Labella said that once a child or a person gets hooked to illegal drugs, it is difficult for them to be rehabilitated.

“Even after rehabilitation, sometimes and more often, they still go back to their old habits,” he said.

With such a situation, Labella wants the anti-drug council to come up with a plan to prevent a person from using illegal drugs.

Labella said the problem on illegal drugs has become a complicated social problem that requires the involvement of not just one agency.

“As I’ve said, it became a social problem so all the sectors of the community should be involved in fighting illegal drugs,” said Labella.

He said the community must work together in addressing the issue and helping those who are trying to reform.

The mayor also asked probation officers to implement the penal system in a corrective way, rather than punitive.

“Let’s give these victims a chance to go back to the community,” he said.

Labella said he is glad the Cadac has been organized and participated in by different sectors and not only by law enforcement agencies.

Cadac is chaired by the mayor himself, represented by Ernesto Herrera, and co-chaired by Jonah John Rodriguez, action officer.

The vice-chairperson is Police Col. Gemma Vinluan, Cebu City Police Office director.

“We should adopt the attitude that through the Cadac, we should have policies that will be preventive and precautionary, rather than reactionary,” said Labella. /