The barangay that finally said ‘no’

AUTHORITIES estimate that there are about 3.4 million Filipinos addicted to drugs. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), drug abuse can result in increased rates of crime and violence, susceptibility to HIV/AIDS and hepatitis, huge demand rates for treatment and emergency room visits, and a breakdown in social behavior, among other things.

In our final feature on addictions, we focus on drug addiction, which is “not a problem that affects only the abuser himself, but also his family and the community in which he moves.”

The report highlights the successes so far of a community-based anti-drug campaign in Tatalon, Quezon City. Once practically a drug haven that had many of its younger residents hooked on shabu and heroin, Tatalon now has what is considered a good model of community-based intervention that primarily targets the youth.

This congested barangay is showing that it is not impossible to fight off the drug menace, and that transformation can take place when both the supply and demand sides of the drug problem are addressed.

Read on at pcij.org.