DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE & ILLICIT TRAFFICKING

26 JUNE THE WORLD CELEBRATES
 INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST DRUGS

ABC / AP - This year’s observance of International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is the 24th and coincides with the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.  The theme is ‘Global Action for Healthy Communities without Drugs’.  The General Assembly passed resolution 42/112 on 7 December 1987, deciding to observe 26 June as International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.  The day is being observed to affirm that illicit drugs continue to pose a health danger to humanity.  Despite continued and increased efforts by the international community, the world drug problem continues to constitute a serious threat to public health, the safety and well-being of humanity, in particular young people, and the national security and sovereignty of States.

  The UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, is urging all sectors of society to get involved in the fight.  “... Drug use, at its core, is a health issue. Drug dependence is a disease, not a crime. The real criminals are the drug traffickers.  But the supply side is only half of the equation. Unless we reduce demand for illicit drugs, we can never fully tackle cultivation, production or trafficking.  Governments have a responsibility to counteract both drug trafficking and drug abuse, but communities can also make a major contribution.  Families, schools, civil society and religious organisations can do their part to rid their communities of drugs.  Businesses can help provide legitimate livelihoods. The media can raise awareness about the dangers of narcotics,” Ban said in a statement.

 

The world community is observing the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.  The day is observed today across the globe to renew pledge of continuing war against manufacturing and use of narcotics.  Narco trade is increasingly being used by organised criminal syndicates to finance militancy and terrorism, and it undermines socio-economic and political stability and sustainable development of a country.  Apart from that, drugs condition the state of consciousness of the soul at the moment of leaving the physical body.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

If there is intense attachment to someone or something, then the soul will depart with that person’s image in mind. Intense hatred means that the hated person’s image will remain in the mind as the predominant thought or image at the time of death.  A person who had been strongly addicted to liquor and drugs will leave the body with thoughts of liquor and drugs, or the desire for more intoxication. Sometimes they leave the body while under the influence of intoxicants, which has a most regressive affect on entering the next realm. On the other hand, a person who had lead a pious and virtuous life, with thoughts of God, will depart from the body with thoughts of God. The last thoughts determine the conditions and nature of the next birth.  It is for this reason that we are advised to sing the Divine Names of God or hymns at the time of death in order to focus the attention of the dying person on holy and noble thoughts.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Curing Depression with Spirituality”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/curing_depression_with_spirituality.htm
http://www.stephen-knapp.com  -  http://www.stephenknapp.info/