Jordan Times
Saturday, September 4, 1999
Officials, experts look for solution to undefined
drug abuse problem
By Jummana Tamimi
AMMAN — Stirred by the growing number of reported drug abusers, both officials and experts share an almost unanimous opinion on the need to end a problem that can no longer be swept under the carpet and are engaged in a debate as to the best way to confront the problem.
But the size and scale of abuse have proven elusive, keeping a real solution at bay.
A National Higher Committee to Combat Drugs was formed in 1986, but remained “low profile and almost inactive” until just a year ago. It was rejuvenated by a 1998 decision of the Arab Council Social Affairs Committee to coordinate regional efforts to end abuse and trafficking.
The higher committee's 15 members include representatives of the ministries of social and religious affairs, education, interior and public security, finance and customs, information, health, youth as well as one representative of the universities and three non-governmental organisations involved in combating drug abuse.
A sub-committee has been formed to work out a national plan to combat abuse, and after months of work, the committee hatched a JD22 million plan that was recently submitted to the government for endorsement.
“The government has approved the plan, but it delayed a conference which was supposed to follow the announcement of the plan,” Hamdi Murad, general director of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Zakat Fund and member of the Higher Committee to Combat Drugs told the Jordan Times. “It was postponed until further notice. It might convene before the end of this year, or early next year.”
Apart from stricter control of Jordan's borders and a public awareness campaign, the plan, expected to be financed by European donors, also stipulates stricter measures on the sale of some pharmaceuticals, particularly tranquillisers.
Currently, there are 209 pharmaceutical products registered on the list of monitored narcotics: 51 medicaments; 117 tranquillisers; 41 psychoactive drugs.
Some experts are calling for a change to the Pharmaceutical Practice Law. Officials at the Ministry of Health agree.
“There is a need to change all laws related to drugs, as well as to regulate supervision,” says Maha Mu'waqet, head of the narcotics section at the PSD's Anti-Narcotics Department. “There is a committee working to amend the Pharmaceutical Practice Law.”
She added that a draft law concerning drugs, particularly psychoactive drugs, and drug-trafficking were submitted to the Cabinet for approval.
Murad said a religious ruling that “completely forbids” drug use has also been included in the plan.
“I believe the (three-year) plan is adequate, (whether) in terms of its cost or in details and implementation mechanism,” says Murad, who also headed the subcommittee that recently drew up a national strategy to combat drug abuse and trafficking.
But other experts in the field expressed wariness of the proposed scheme, saying they were excluded from its drafting.
“I have no idea about that plan, neither do the concerned people I know,” says psychiatrist Walid Sarhan, who has been treating drug addicts for 17 years. “I have not read it, nor was I consulted about it.”
Psychiatrists say that any committee concerned with abuse, addiction and trafficking must have the moral and legal authority to execute recommendations; a view supported by officials.
“If this committee is to be a decision-maker and have an opinion, it has to be activated and reinforced by regulations and legislation,” said former minister of Social Development Faisal Rafua, who previously headed the committee. In a small Cabinet reshuffle last week, Rafua was moved as minister from the social development ministry to the Culture Ministry.
Meanwhile, available estimates on the number of abusers and addicts contrast sharply, confusing the effort to end addiction, abuse and trafficking.
“We don't have an actual estimate of the size of the problem,” said Abdullah Ouidat, professor of education at the University of Jordan and head of the Arab Awareness Society, an NGO that sits on both the higher committee and the sub-committee. “NGOs and universities will also be given the opportunity to carry out a comprehensive survey across the Kingdom so that we will have a more accurate estimate of the abuse and trafficking problem in the country.”
Some experts, who say addiction may have started as experimental fun for many addicts in a limited socio-economic circle, warn that the circle is widening.
Nor is it clear which drugs are being abused. Some of the most common forms of abuse are thought to be the ingestion of tranquillisers, the injection of heroin or the sniffing chemicals, including glue, paint, gas fumes and in some cases, the fumes of burnt ants.
Officials say addiction has not yet reached high levels in Jordan.
“We can't say this social epidemic does not exist in society, but we can say that Jordan is among the countries that work to combat the problem and has limited its aggravation,” Rafua said.
The government estimates the number of people using and addicted to be somewhere in the hundreds. Official statistics place the number of drug abusers caught at 512 in 1998, up from 282 in 1994. Officials have also recorded 16 deaths from overdose in the past three years. Jordanian medical specialists in Jordan suspect the number is much higher, an argument that seems to be confirmed by U.N. estimates that place the number of abusers at 7,000.
The number and size of busts also imply that the seriousness of the phenomenon is growing. PSD officials announced in July that the overall quantity of drugs confiscated over the past three years was more than double the quantity seized since the establishment of the PSD's Anti-Narcotics Unit 25 years ago, suggesting that smugglers have increased the size of their trade, and accordingly, increased the possibility of introducing illicit drugs to the Kingdom.
Meanwhile, officials are also alarmed by growing heroin use. Official statistics show that the number of heroin users caught in 1994 was 38, but their numbers have grown to 59, 116, 228 and 161 in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998, respectively.
“Heroin is the most dangerous street drug, and we know that the use of it is on the increase,” said Sarhan. “Its potential for addiction is very high and its effects are terrible. People can become addicted in as little as 72 hours.”
“We hope an assessment would provide an idea about the nature of addiction and the kind of drugs people are using [that will reveal] a pattern, not just a magnitude,” says Mahdi Ali, the Cairo-based regional representative of the United Nations Drugs Control Programme.