His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch and Mr. Ivica Dacic, MInister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia on Sunday, March 19, 2012 at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade signed the Memorandum of the cooperation of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia on in implementing the strategy for the fight against drugs in the Republic of Serbia.
In his address to the public after the signing of the Memorandum, the Serbian Patriarch Irinej said that they have signed an agreement to mutually work to combat a major scourge of our times, which had very harmful consequences, especially to people who use drugs, then to their families, and then consequences for society and the whole nation.
Such people are becoming a problem, especially their own, for their family, and then for the state and the society. He also said that the Church had an experience with several treatment centers for addicts. So he stressed that the drugs was a very serious problem not only in our country but also in the whole world. The Patriarch said that great battles were being fought against this great evil and the participation of our Church in this combat was significant.
So He said that this problem rose in the schools so the schools might be the best place to start with this combat. His Holiness also said that against this evil one should deal with a plan, so the Serbian Orthodox Church hoped that the cooperation and the agreement with the Ministry of Internal Affairs would be fruitfull and successful.
Also Serbian Minister of Internal Affairs Mr. Ivica Dacic addressed the public saying that that day was significant for the activity that they have within the Strategy for fight againts drugs in the Republic of Serbia. It was very significant also because the fight against drugs was not enough to arrest those drug dealers but also necessary to treat drug addicts. In this manner, I had seen in the Russian Federation and on the West how the cooperation between the State and the Church functions in this area. The drug treatment centers led by our Church was highly successful. The percentage of the treated is 95% of the centers formed by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
That is why, Minister Dacic visited one of this Church centers which was called the Land of the Living at Cenej in Backa. He was very impressed with the way of the organisation of this centre.