- A number of activists in the field of youth development have expressed concerns over escalating drug dealing among young people and call on the government to find ways to prevent drugs entering Iraq.

Activist in the field of youth development and director of Mansour Youth Forum in Baghdad Samir Ali said the government faces a "real test" to put an end to the entry of drugs.

"We in the youth forums are working to educate about the danger of drugs and drinking hallucinogenic drugs, especially since the Supreme National Commission for Drug Control says that addiction is increasing in Iraq."

Director of Anti-Drugs organization Amira Ali al-Dhagestani said Iraq was damaged from being located among the producing countries of drugs and opium. The lack of awareness in schools and universities is behind the increasing rates of addiction of drugs and hallucinogenic drugs, she said.

"Diyala province discovered recently the cultivation of Datura narcotic plant... We have information that the number of drug promoters reached 1,415 after 2008," she added.

Figures from the Supreme National Commission for Drug Control suggest there are more than 7,000 cases of drug addiction in Iraq. The commission also states that the highest numbers of addiction are found in the provinces of Baghdad, Hilla, Karbala, Wasit, Muthanna and Diwaniya.

A young man named Barier Hamid told AKnews: "I was previously addicted to drugs and hallucinogenic materials but I stopped dealing with all these materials after one of my friends helped me... Economic and social reasons led me to be addicted."

Inspector General of the Iraqi health ministry Dr. Adel Mohsin said: "While there aren't a lot of addiction cases in Iraq there is the so-called 'Kabsala' and we're working to treat and get rid of them through awareness and making sure that pharmacists don't sell drugs except for patients according to doctors' prescriptions."

Kabsala refers to micro-encapsulation, the process by which drug substances are surrounded by a coating.

The threat of drugs increased recently in Iraq after the country became a producer for it, according to official Iraqi reports. Seizures of narcotics, natural hashish, opium and other drugs have spread in the southern provinces of Iraq more so than others due to the geographical location of these areas being at the center of neighboring countries that produce and consume drugs.

Iraq is working to review its 1965 drug law because it did not keep up pace with drug control activities that took place internationally after that date.






AKnews