Riyadh — The Riyadh Initiative against Substance Abuse (RISA), a campaign organized by the Riyadh wing of Subair Kunju foundation, a Trivandrum-based Charitable Trust in cooperation with the National Committee for Narcotic Control (NCNC), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, initiated a 3-month-long global e-campaign in connection with the observation of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26. The foundation conducted an awareness program at Al Madina Hypermarket, Riyadh, and extended its solidarity to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) led global campaign. In the event, e-mail messages sent to Dr. S. S. Lal, the former TB/HIV technical specialist of WHO and technical director of PATH (an international NGO) by the managing trusty, Dr. Abdul Azeez Subair Kunju, to the UNICEF consultant at its regional office, Riyadh, by the RISA ladies wing convener Padmini U. Nair and to the Indian Minister for External Affairs Ms. Sushma Swaraj by Dr. Mohammed Ashraf Ali, President AIUS, were read out Messages were also sent to Indian Embassy Charge d' Affaires Hemant Kotalwar, Chief Minister of Kerala Ooman Chandy, Health Minister V S Shivakumar etc. followed by a mass message transfer through free shopy.com by the friend's creations, Riyadh. Dr. Abdul Azeez Subair Kunju, managing trustee & RISA convener, also announced the formation of 3 provincial RISA committees in Jeddah, Jubail and Al Jouf with Bichikka Bishar, Shameer Yusaf and Sudheer Hamsa as regional coordinators to widen its activities in the Kingdom. The prizes for the two winners of the coupon contest conducted during the 21-day-long RISA exhibition at Al Madina Hypermarket were also distributed in the function. “Drug abuse is one of the major threats faced by many countries and it is our social responsibility to do our best to prevent it. RISA is one among many other global groups working against this social evil. In this campaign, our target is to disseminate RISA leaflet electronically to a minimum of 10 lakh people on a global basis,” said the foundation's managing trusty Dr. Abdul Azeez Subair Kunju. He requested different organizations and social media to join in this noble cause. The leaflet is available in RISA community page www.facebook.com/risaactivity. Mir Mohsin Ali, Javed Ali, General Secretary of NRI Forum, Dr. Samson Sam, the president of Riyadh Indian Medical Association, Dr. Elizebath, John Fernandaz, secretary of Lions Riyadh, Lion Unnikrishnan, Nazar Aboobakker, CEO Al Madina Hypermarket, Shaji Alapuzha, HRM, Al Madina, Adv. Aneer Babu, George Kutty Makkulath, Sanoop Kumar, Shafeeq Kinalur were among those who attended the event. Subair Kunju Foundation is conducting extensive campaign against substance abuse since 2012 and has been officially approved by the NCNC since 2013. Since then, RISA has conducted more than 45 awareness programs in various settings such as international schools, labor camps, community gatherings, polyclinics etc. Dr. A. V. Bharathan, a leading ophthalmologist of New Safa Makkah Polyclinic, Riyadh, is the program consultant.
