Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Heroin addiction gains ground in Arab world
There are more than half a million heroin addicts in the Arab world, says Prince Turki Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz, chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mentor Arabia.
- By Abdul Rahman Shaheen, Correspondent
- Published: 23:30 November 21, 2008
Riyadh: There are more than half a million heroin addicts in the Arab world, says Prince Turki Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz, chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mentor Arabia.
"This figure does not include those addicted to other drugs," he said, quoting a latest United Nations report on the problem.
Prince Turki is championing a de-addiction drive among Arab youth. "It is unfortunate that we did not have the exact figure of drug addicts in the Arab world. The poor level of awareness is another challenge," he said.
In an exclusive interview with Gulf News, Prince Turki, who is the nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, said that there are millions of Arab youths who are either users or addicts of various kinds of drugs in addition to heroin, such as hashish, cocaine and captagen.
Honour
Prince Turki has been honoured by the Mentor Foundation for his role in establishing its Arab branch Mentor Arabia.
He was honoured by the Queen Silvia of Sweden, president of the Mentor Foundation, at a ceremony held on the sidelines of a charity event organised by the foundation in New York last Thursday.
Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said more than 12 tonnes of amphetamine tablets were seized last month in a major raid in a Gulf state. Around 14 tonnes of the drug was seized in that country in 2007, he noted.
Prince Turki said his organisation was striving to get actual figures of drug abuse cases through exercising influence on top decision makers.
Prince Turki said Mentor Arabia, which was founded nearly one and a half years ago, has initiated several plans and programmes in many Arab countries, including Kuwait and Lebanon. "The organisation will kick start its first five-year plan this year," he announced.
Prince Turki said family problems drive Saudi Arabian youth towards drugs.
"We are carrying out minute studies on all these reasons as part of combating this menace," he said.
Arab Mentor is planning projects that include training children, families and caretakers in the detection and prevention of drug abuse, supporting the development of related public policies and the development of after-school alternative programmes.
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