Mona Sawwaf, a UN international expert on addiction, has said that 90 percent of people who have experimented with drugs and alcohol fall in the 12-20 age bracket.
In a telephone interview with Arab News, Sawwaf said that international agencies have warned the public of the alarmingly high rate of addiction among women, besides children now trying drugs.
She believes that the high rate of addiction among women is due to the fact that they are targeted by drug dealers and human trafficking gangs. “In addition, women are increasingly exposed to social turmoil, so for many women, these are real challenges,” she said.
She said children mature much faster than most parents realize thanks to exposure to the media. “Educational and awareness programs simply do not fit the bill and therefore do not achieve their intended objectives,” she said.
Abd Ar Razzaq Al-Hamad, a professor of psychiatry at the King Saud University medical school in Riyadh, conducted a study entitled “How to minimize demand on drugs within GCC countries.” The sample survey for the study comprised people admitted to health institutions for the treatment of addiction.
The study found that 10 percent began taking drugs as early as primary school and that 24 percent of those who took to drugs in GCC countries began experimenting when they were in junior high and 36.6 percent began taking drugs during the last two years at high school. The study also found that 5.8 percent began taking drugs when they were in college.
Abd Al Ilah Ash Sahreef, assistant director-general of drug control and preventive affairs, who is also a UN international expert and chairman of addictive cases in Saudi Arabia, said the directorate general of drug control had come up with many initiatives and plans this year to educate the public about the health and social hazards of addiction. “Around 60 percent of these projects have been completed so far,” he said.
“What is striking is that many youngsters took to drugs between the ages of 12 and 20 years of age. I therefore urge Saudi families to closely monitor their kids so that they do not fall prey to drug dealers and trafficking gangs. The country is a clear target,” he said. “They use intricate and convoluted methods to bring drugs into the country.
They sometimes place drugs in container cans of foodstuff or within wooden boards and marble.
They sometimes even place them in boxes of honey. There have also been occasions when drugs have been detected in the fruit pulp and vegetable produce,” he said.
Experts alarmed at high rate of addiction among women
Experts alarmed at high rate of addiction among women
