Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Brazil Uses Comics and Ronaldinho to Fight Drugs

At yesterday's, June 21, opening ceremony of the 8th National Anti-Drug Week, in the Planalto Palace, in Brazilian capital Brasília, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva commented that the government should not be a guardian but, rather, a facilitator of actions to combat drug use.

He underscored that society and government should unite in the campaign to prevent drug use.

One of the government's new drug prevention programs in schools is "Say Yes to Life," which consists in the distribution of primers with stories and games based on the popular comic book characters from Mônica's Gang and a new character, the soccer hero, Ronaldinho Gaúcho.

The primers, which contain messages about the harm caused by drugs, will be distributed in public schools around the country.

The Ministry of Education, the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD), and the University of Brasília (UnB) plan to train approximately 20,000 public school teachers by the end of the year to deal with the drug issue in the classroom.

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