RIYADH, 3 September 2007 — The Ministry of Education needs to target schools for a major awareness campaign about solvent-abuse, as children as young as four to five years old are sniffing glue, sprays, paints, and household chemicals to get intoxicated, said Dr. Parisa Saed Al-Hashim of Saudi TV (Channel Two).

Dr. Al-Hashim has carried out an extensive survey on the adverse impact of drugs on school children. Her findings are reinforced by a study conducted by the Ministry of Social Affairs earlier this year, which showed that boys as young as 10 and girls as young as 13 are taking drugs in the Kingdom’s public schools.

Referring to the findings of the study, Deputy Minister of Social Affairs Ayed Al-Radadi said that an average of 2,500 youths were annually sent to juvenile detention centers in Riyadh alone — a sign of an increase in youth crime in the Kingdom.

Al-Radadi believes that in the absence of “real and carefully studied programs” in schools, warning youngsters of the consequences of drug abuse through the old slogan of “Say No to Drugs” would be unworkable. The deputy minister reprimanded the education sector for trying to brush the problem under the carpet and pretending it does not exist.

Referring to the growing incidence of drug abuse, Dr. Al-Hashim said the anti-drug awareness campaign could be launched at two levels — one for elementary school children and the other for those in the age group of 12 years and above.

She said elementary school children could be taught about the harmful effects of drug abuse through drawing and story telling. They could then be asked to recap what they had learned.

As for higher-grade students, media education has been identified as an effective tool in creating awareness about drug abuse. They could either download the data through the Internet or from newspapers to get an idea of how people become addicted, the harm it causes them and how they can be cured. Equally important is the need to write down what students have imbibed, so that it stays in their memory as a permanent guideline.

Dr. Al-Hashim added that parents have a crucial role in this regard. According to her, juvenile drug addicts are victims of emotional, physical or psychological abuse. “Even when they realize their mistake and try to make amends, fathers, in some cases, refuse to forgive them and are also known to disown them. Such behavior on their part is unacceptable, since Islam itself preaches a spirit of forgiveness if a person is truly repentant,” she said.

She added, “But these fathers are influenced more by rigid cultural norms than by Islamic values. This creates in them (children) a guilty complex or a feeling of anxiety and depression or, alternatively, revenge. One girl set fire to her house in one of those extreme moments.”

She added that the problem could be tackled through a holistic approach. “It involves looking at the situation of the drug addict or the victim of child abuse in a holistic way to form a macro picture of the problem and not in a two-dimensional way,” she said.

The best way to address the problem is through a child support group consisting of former drug addicts or victims of child/emotional abuse. Together with the help of a sponsor, who has gone through the problem, victims could be psyched out of their situation on the road to rehabilitation.