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JORDAN-DRUGS
Jordan campaigns to combat taboo drug addiction
AMMAN, March 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Issam was reduced to tears recounting his
life as a drug addict, as Jordanian authorities press an unprecedented
campaign in the Muslim-majority country where substance abuse remains taboo.
Slogans such as “No to Drugs” are part of the new drive, launched in the
wake of a worrying rise in the number of cases of addiction, possession and
smuggling, to raise overall awareness of the issue, according to the anti-
narcotics department.
Jordan’s public security directorate has also started a primetime radio
show that airs every Tuesday to address the dangers of drug addiction.
“Drugs have made me an outcast. No one respects me or even looks at me,”
Issam said during the show, hosted by Major Anas al-Tantawi of the anti-
narcotics department.
“It got to the point where I sold my furniture and my five-year-old
daughter’s gold earrings … I tried to commit suicide twice.”
As the show came to a close, Tantawi said: “They are victims, and we must
help them, not discard them.”
– ‘Bags of evidence’ –
Brigadier Anwar al-Tarawneh, director of the anti-narcotics department,
told AFP there has been a 32 percent increase in cases of addiction,
possession smuggling in Jordan since 2017.
The evidence is there. In a room in the department, the shelves are crammed
with white plastic bags and brown envelopes bulging with seized drugs —
including heroin, cocaine and amphetamines. Some were smuggled into the
country in hollowed-out books, or shoes or disguised as pastries in a box.
But authorities say hashish is the most commonly used drug in the kingdom,
where 20,000 people were arrested in 2018 for drug abuse.
Drug traffickers in Jordan, which has a small population of just over nine
million, face sentences of between three and 20 years, depending on the
amount and type of drugs seized.
Under a 2016 law, addicts are exempted from serving time if they agree to
treatment at a rehabilitation centre.
But drug addicts are generally still looked down upon by Jordan’s
conservative society.
“Drugs are a (vice) that affects one’s mind, soul, finances and health,”
Muslim preacher Raed Sabri, who has a YouTube channel, told AFP.
Recovering addicts however must be “cared for and not discarded so that
they can again be contributing members of society,” he insisted.
The kingdom’s anti-drugs campaign targets those aged between 18 and 27, who
make up 47 percent of users, according to the anti-narcotics department.
According to Jamal al-Anani, a psychiatrist and drug addiction specialist,
“curiosity, lack of maturity and stress” are the main causes that lead to
addiction among teenagers.
Apart from workshops in schools and universities, Tarawneh said authorities
were using “modern methods”, including social media, to reach those most
vulnerable.
– ‘Drugs are a monster’ –
At a 170-bed rehab centre in the capital Amman, affiliated with the public
security directorate, posters on the walls read “Drugs are a Monster, don’t
come near” and “Drugs are a Waste of Money”.
Treatment lasts between one and two months, said Fawaz al-Masaeed, the
centre’s director.
“There are three stages: detox, treatment and rehabilitation,”he told AFP,
and the centre follows up with patients for four months after their
discharge.
Omar, 32, said his mother encouraged him to check in to the centre after
having struggled with drug addiction for 14 years.
“A friend offered me a cigarette when I was depressed, telling me ‘Take
this, it’ll make you relax,'” Omar, now a father of four, told AFP.
“When I asked for another, I realised it was hashish … I was 18 years
old.”
After years of substance abuse, “my health deteriorated, I lost 27 kilos
(almost 60 pounds), I lost my job, and it strained my relationships with
everyone around me. I destroyed my life.”
Now after his rehabilitation, Omar hopes “to start a new life”.
BSS/AFP/RY/1733 hrs