A scientific online discussion on “Who traps children in substance? What can we, as teachers do about it?” was held successfully on 10^th October 2021 starting from 7 pm onwards. Around 200 School teachers, teachers of Dhamma schools, higher education institutes, technical colleges and tuition classes, parents and school children participated for this.

This was organised by Centre for Combating Tobacco (CCT) in collaboration with the Young Professionals’ Alliance for Health (YouPAH). The programme was moderated and the audience was welcomed by Dr Nipuna Tharanga (Member, YouPAH).  Brief introductions about CCT and YouPAH was done by Ms Narmada Horadagoda, Programme Manager of CCT and Mr Akhila Nilaweera, Vice President of YouPAH, respectively.

The discussion was based on the questions received by the organisers via a social media campaign among the target population prior to the webinar. Dr Jayamal De Silva, (Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sri Jayawardenapura), spoke about the drugs, teachers and students community. Then Dr Mahesh Rajasuriya, (Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo and Director/CCT), discussed about the norms and myths related to drugs and underlying determinants. The industry tactics to popularise substance and the skills needed by children to be immune to those were outlined by Dr Manuja Perera, (Senior Lecturer, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya and Editor and Deputy Project Director/CCT). Finally, Dr Manoj Fernando, (Senior Lecture Health Promotion, Department of Public Health Faculty of Medicine, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka), discussed the role of the teachers and parents in this issue and practical interventions that can be done at school levels. All four panelists discussed questions on the laws and principles related to drugs and prevention of drugs.

Ms Chinthika Perera, the Programme Officer of CCT then briefly described about the TobaccoUnmasked Hot Spots App, highlighting how the teachers can be a part of the CCT’s Community Driven Tobacco Surveillance System (CDTSS). As closing remarks, Ms Dhanushka Elpitiya, Vice Secretary of YouPAH delivered her vote of thanks.