As drug abuse and smuggling cases were on the rise among local young people, the government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) will establish a Concern Teenager Drug Addiction Working Group dedicated to the drug prevention task, the Macao Daily Times reported on Monday.

The new ad hoc group, affiliated to the SAR government's Social Welfare Bureau (IAS), is subjected to provide substantial suggestions regarding drug addiction prevention among the youth to the SAR government, the daily quoted Vong Yim Mui, an IAS official as saying.

Besides setting up an ad-hoc working group, the IAS will co-operate with the SAR's Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) and the Legal Affair Bureau (DSAJ) to provide talks and education to parents, schools and teachers, according to the daily.

Vong said that educating parents to correctly deal with children who are drug addicts is very important, since most of the parents do not know how to seek assistance after identifying drug addicting offspring.

According to the Anti-Drugs Web's latest figure, teenagers seeking assistance at the SAR's Division for Treatment and Social Rehabilitation between January and April this year alone surged to40 cases, which has almost reached the total number of 41 cases last year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2009)