(From Left to Right) Mr Victor Lye, Chairman, National Council Against Drug Abuse, Guest-of-Honour Minister Masagos, Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs and Mr Ng Ser Song, Director, Central Narcotics Bureau launching the Official Opening of the Anti-Drug Abuse Carnival 2015
(Top row, left) Mr Ng Ser Song, Mr Henry Tan (Senior Director, Singapore Polytechnic), Mr Daniel Tan (Director, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Singapore Polytechnic), Mr Victor Lye, Minister Masagos, taking a selfie with student volunteers from Singapore Polytechnic during the VIP Tour of the carnival
(Pic Credit: Central Narcotics Bureau)
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I attended the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Anti-Drug Abuse Campaign last Friday and had so much fun at the two-day Anti-Drug Abuse Carnival that I popped by Suntec City Convention Centre Hall 403 on both days! 😀
If you weren’t at the Carnival over the weekend, here are 3 things you missed:
1) The Anti-Drug Abuse Carnival
I applaud the organizing committee for doing a fantastic job in making what sounds like a potentially boring carnival into one which was a lot of fun. I have to admit that I was surprised at how much I enjoyed visiting the Carnival!
I found it to be a good mix of Education and Fun. We danced, shot hoops, fired Nerf guns, took a quiz and even learnt a bit of skateboarding! 😀
I’m hopeless with a Nerf gun but my fiancé is really good at this. He made the Drugs Shootout look too easy!
And it’s always fun to spin these wheels and win a prize, eh? I won the Folder Speakers! 😀 #solucky
The highlight of the carnival is a special 20th anniversary photo and timeline exhibition showcasing how the community and government have worked together since 1995 to raise awareness about the dangers of drugs and to rally support for the anti-drug cause.
I definitely learnt a thing or two from these information panels!
Did you know there’s a Clubs Against Drugs (CAD) Campaign? It was started in 2000 to “counter the increasing abuse of synthetic drugs, especially in night entertainment outlets”. Club owners are updated about the drug situation and receive collateral for dissemination within their outlets.
2) The ‘Nelzon’ App
‘Nelzon,’ a preventive drug education mobile game application developed by students from Nanyang Polytechnic’s School of Interactive and Digital Media, was launched at the opening ceremony of the carnival by Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.
The Preventive Education Unit (PEU) in Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) has been working with Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP)’s School of Interactive & Digital Media to enhance two mobile phone game applications created by NYP students in 2013. The game applications are targeted at youths between 13 and 21 years old.
‘Nelzon’ is a runner game based on the life of a troubled schoolboy Nelzon. Players assume Nelzon’s role to evade and battle the Evil Conscience who constantly appears to tempt Nelzon into taking drugs.
Guide Nelzon into jumping and sliding across the 5 different game scenarios and avoid drugs and collect rewards (Coins, Books and Power-Ups)…
Go ahead and download the app now – available in iOS and Android versions.
3) The DanceWorks! Competition
The carnival is also held in conjunction with DanceWorks!, a dance competition involving youth participants from schools and institutes of higher learning.
DanceWorks! is Singapore’s only anti-drug dance competition and it is into its 17th year. It aims to engage our youths in the anti-drug cause through dance and encourage the development of a healthy and drug-free lifestyle. The theme for this year’s competition is “Dance for a Drug-Free Singapore”, with 338 participants from 25 schools/organizations.
More pictures and the list of winners can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/lifedoesnotrewind
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It’s easy to overlook the importance of such anti-drug campaigns if you have never met people whose lives (or that of their families) have been destroyed by drug abuse. I have encountered a few of such ‘victims’ before and I believe in the cause of the Anti-Drug Abuse Campaign. What is alarming is that there has been an increasing number of drug abusers arrested who are below 30 years old – the figure has increased by 34% from 826 in 2010 to 1,110 in 2014!
Also, there are drug clusters forming among young people (when one drug abuser influences his friends into joining him). And contrary to popular belief, there has been a changing profile of youth abusers (especially cannibis abusers) with many of them performing well in their studies and coming from middle class families!
Some think cannibis is not harmful, mistakenly believing that it is a “soft” drug and that it is less harmful and less addictive than tobacco. Unfortunately, cannibis (aka marijuana, weed, or ganja) is addictive and harmful. It has been linked to impairments in teenage brain development, lower psychomotor skills, development of psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, and even cognitive decline with a drop in IQ!
Spread the anti-drug abuse message and submit an anti-drug pledge now at http://bit.ly/1Fi2Tx8
Working With Grace 
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