By Abdulrahman Al Beshi
Since its inception early 2015, the National Project on Prevention of Drugs (NIBRAS) has made clear impact on the ongoing national efforts to create awareness about drugs and prevent their misuse. The programme has also been widely acclaimed by governmental bodies, most notably the Council of Ministers.
NIBRAS is one of the many projects and initiatives launched by SABIC during 2015 in the area of social responsibility. Through this initiative, SABIC sought to keep up with the efforts of Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Minister of Interior and Chairman of the National Committee for Combating Drugs, in fighting this menace to society, particularly the youth who make up 65 percent of the Kingdom’s population.
When SABIC initiated NIBRAS, it saw the National Committee for Combating Drugs as the right partner, and a strategic partnership was established between the two parties. SABIC funded the programme with SR 50 million spread over five years, and will continue its participation by following up the implementation of all related programmes throughout its various stages. This involvement will persist till a leading national project for combating drugs is established, with its impact extending locally, regionally and internationally.
The vision of NIBRAS focuses on preventive action against the abuse of drugs and psychotropic substances, while its mission centres on coordinating various national efforts in realizing the objectives.
NIBRAS covers various activities and programmes. The Family and Child Program aims at educating the family, especially mothers, on the harmful effects of drugs, the methods of prevention and the importance of promoting values during the child’s formative years.
The Educational Environment Program aims at promoting self-regulation among school students against smoking and drug abuse by employing specialized trainers at educational winstitutions.
The Media and New Media programme focuses on producing media materials that relate to the project and distributing them among the various media channels and social networking sites to be made public.
The Stars of NIBRAS involves requesting sports stars to send awareness messages on drugs to youth, 10 to15 years. The programme consists of 14 episodes to be broadcast through the Saudi sports channels during the sports season. Each episode will invite a sports figure along with six children.
The NIBRAS research programme supports scientific researches in various related fields such as the geographical information system (GIS), which helps drug-prevention specialists to identify places that need specific attention based on the type of drugs commonly used in the region.
NIBRAS also supports the Global Information Network about Drugs (GINAD) programme. GINAD is a non-profit network concerned with providing comprehensive and detailed information on various aspects related to control of narcotic and psychotropic drugs. This service is being provided by the Kingdom to all interested countries around the world in four languages: Arabic, English, French and Urdu.
In recognition of these efforts, the National Committee for Combating Drugs recently expressed its appreciation to SABIC in a letter published in leading Saudi newspapers.
