Nakhon Ratchasima, The Prime Minister held a mobile cabinet meeting in Korat, ordering the cabinet to integrate all drug suppression agencies, recommending that every morning students make an oath in front of the flagpole, expediting water management, assigning the Ministry of Agriculture to develop beef cattle breeds, and working on developing a digital system to serve the public.
Prime Minister Settha Thavisin chaired the 4th/2024 Cabinet meeting outside the office at the Rangsarit Rajabhat Hall, Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University. Immediately after the meeting, the Prime Minister gave an order, namely the suppression of drugs, which is one of the government’s urgent and important policies. He has held follow-up meetings with relevant agencies and given orders many times because the spread of drugs, especially among teenagers and working-age people, is a problem that destroys the nation’s main force. In the past week, he and several ministers have traveled to several provinces in the North and Northeas
t and listened to the successes and highlights of some provinces. Therefore, they have compiled them into orders, assigning the governors of the provinces to be responsible for integrating cooperation with the police, the ONCB, various government agencies, and local residents to conduct X-rays in all areas by mobilizing forces to test the urine of all at-risk groups aged 16 and over in every village, separating drug users for treatment, and assigning the Royal Thai Police, the Ministry of Justice, through the ONCB, and the Ministry of Defense to expand the arrest of drug dealers in order to prosecute them decisively. This is considered cutting the supply side out of the system. The Ministry of Public Health must separate drug users by level of severity for treatment, cure, and return them to the community when ready. The Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Defense must work together to find sufficient treatment facilities and ensure that they do not return to drug use. Whe
n returning them to the community, they must receive vocational training, find jobs, and earn enough to live on. The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and the Ministry of Labor must step in to help so that they do not return to being drug users again, which will help cut the demand side.
To prevent new drug users, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education should urgently find appropriate measures to monitor and prevent children from taking drugs. Schools should also work together to instill new values: ‘Children and youth must not be involved with drugs.’ The Office of the Narcotics Control Board should act as the chief of staff in setting goals and KPIs.
Ready to set appropriate measures for the provinces, support coordination and necessary resources, and have the provincial governors and provincial police commanders work closely together.
The Prime Minister continued that he asked all ministers to help support the crackdown on drugs to achieve tangible results, includ
ing prevention, suppression, and treatment. For example, there should be an oath-taking ceremony in front of the flagpole every morning because no matter how well we develop various things, if our people and children become addicted to drugs, it will be difficult for the country to move forward.
As for solving the problem of low beef prices, from my travels to many places, especially in the Northeast, I found that we have potential, especially in beef production at various price levels, but we still lack consistency and marketing. Therefore, I would like to ask the Ministry of Agriculture to help oversee the development of breeds, production standards, and slaughterhouses. I would also like to ask the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help urgently solve the problem of prices and negotiate to open potential foreign markets such as Saudi Arabia and China.
While recurring flooding and drought problems in many areas of the Northeast, or most recently in Phuket Province, are still expe
riencing recurring flooding and drought problems, causing great suffering to people’s lives and properties, and on Tuesday, the Cabinet approved a central budget of over 7,600 million baht to urgently solve this problem, we would like to emphasize that the Office of National Water Resources and the Royal Irrigation Department consider implementing projects as appropriate, taking into account the urgency of the problem and the situation in the area. We also want the Department of Disaster Mitigation to integrate with the Royal Irrigation Department in preparing plans and coping strategies for the impacts of severe flooding so that people suffer the least.
The last issue is the acceleration and promotion of the use of digital technology to accelerate the policy of the use of digital technology to improve the level of service for the public and modern government administration. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society is requested to be the main agency, together with the Office of the Public Sector Developme
nt Commission, to set development guidelines and promote implementation along with indicators so that government agencies that must serve the public focus on developing services for the public to receive convenience and speed, such as the services of public health service units, requesting for registration of various licenses to be more convenient and faster, including promoting digital skills training in the civil service system, officers at all levels.
Source: Thai News Agency