DUSHANBE, November 2, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik counternarcotics agency is seeking cooperation of population to address drug threat.

The Drug Control Agency (DCA)’s press center notes that they have called on the population to make their contribution to development of the national drug control strategy designed for 2013-2022.

“The strategy has been worked out by an inter-agency working group comprising representatives of competent ministries and agencies of the country and the counternarcotics agency has been coordinating this work,” the source said, noting that development of the drug control strategy is connected with modern threats, first of all, intensification of activities of transnational organized crime groups.

All these factors reportedly pose a serious threat to national economy, economy and population’s health.

In his annual address to the Parliament on April 20, Rahmon said that Tajikistan which has a 1,300-kilometer-long border with Afghanistan, is “a buffer zone” on the route of illegal Afghan drugs smuggled to Russia and Europe.  The president said that, although there are some positive achievements in Afghanistan, the stabilization process there is not yet irreversible.

Taking all this into consideration, the president reportedly ordered the counternarcotics agency to work out the national drug control strategy designed for 2013-2022.