DUBAI: The Erada Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation (Erada) had launched its ‘Masmooh’ campaign to educate the community about addiction.
Organised as part of the Year of Tolerance, the campaign seeks to promote forgiveness in society in order to help rehabilitate addicts.
Erada Rehabilitation Centre chairman Dr Abdul Qader Al Khayyat said the initiative offers a new approach based on tolerance to help addicts recover and reintegrate into their communities with a sense of hope. People should treat addiction as a disease and not a crime, he said.
“The initiative aims to instill positive energy in families and communities by educating them about the best ways to engage with and assist victims of this disease,” he noted.
The campaign has a three-pronged strategy to support the recovery of addicts and reintegrate them into the community. The first focuses on changing the family’s perception of addiction. With the help of specialists in the field, the campaign also aims to change the attitudes of family members towards a recovering addict, build confidence and provide support during treatment.
The second strategy focuses on helping the addict become a productive member of society. It seeks to open communication channels between the addict and various stakeholders, including prospective employers.
The third strategy focuses on educating the community about the nature of the disease of addiction and promoting forgiveness to enable addicts to be treated.
The campaign has been organised as part of the Year of Tolerance announced by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and in line with the call of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to government departments to promote the value of tolerance within the community.
