Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said on Tuesday that he will not support mass anti-drug testing of students, but will support testing to detect cases of the use of psychoactive drugs.
"Regarding the testing of children in schools, I think there are some essential messages that need to be sent: we will not support mass testing, we will support testing for the purpose of detecting cases of the use of psychoactive drugs; we will only work together with parents. That will be done without discrimination or stigma for children. The safety and harmonious development of children has other components, not only those related to drug use. The physical safety of children is very important, and the involvement of local authorities and colleagues from the Ministry of Internal Affairs is essential," Rafila said in a social media post on the signing of a national school safety action pla, agerpres reports.
According to the minister, the safety and health of children and adolescents are essential for the development of communities.
"I think that the Ministry of Health together with all the government institutions that signed today at the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs a framework plan for school safety have taken an essential step in this field. We want to have healthy children. They must be correctly informed about a healthy lifestyle, how to avoid drugs, how to avoid alcohol, how to avoid tobacco. That can be done very well in school, and together with the Ministry of Education we will develop education for health programmes. I would be very happy and I think that there is a lot of desire on the part of the church denominations to participate in this programme that we are developing together with the Ministry of Education," added Rafila.