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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – On the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (June 26), the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) published figures detailing its efforts to combat the rise in illegal drug use and dealing, including the arrests of hundreds of drug-related offenders and the seizure of tens of kilos of drugs.
There were 651 arrests for drug-related offenses in the Kurdistan Region from January to June of this year, of whom 235 have been sentenced and 416 are under court investigation, according to data from the General Directorate of Drug Prevention.
Directorate data detailed that authorities were able to seize 87.2 kilos of heroin, 2.8 kilos of crystal, 2 kilos of marijuana-related products, and 7,579 sheets of narcotic tablets.
According to the data, 948 people were arrested for drug offenses last year, while an estimated 10,000 people suffer addiction across the Kurdistan Region.
"Unfortunately...the number of users is on the rise year by year," Sarmand Barzanji, an official from the drug prevention organization, told Rudaw.
"Unemployment is one of the reasons behind the growing use of drugs,” he added.
Data from Iraq’s High Commission of Human Rights, shows that the average age of drug users is under 20. The Region has a youth unemployment rate of 25.2 percent, according to a July 2018 UN Migration Agency survey.
Activities to raise drug awareness were organised to mark the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
They included "raising awareness about the dangers of drug use by holding seminars and scientific workshops," Barzanji said, adding that events of this kind are held in coordination with student organizations year round.
Barzanji criticizes the KRG for following the now obsolete Article 68 of Iraqi law. Dating back to 1965, it “doesn’t match the realities of Iraq and the Region."
"The problem with this law is that it treats the user and dealer of drugs with the same severity," he said, adding Iraq now applies a different law [Law 50, passed in 2017] and that the KRG should follow suit.
It contains a set of "good laws" that distinguish between drug user and dealer, with both serving different lengths of prison sentence, he said.
The Kurdistan Region's detention facilities do not separate drug dealers from other inmates, allowing "gang networks" of drug dealers to continue, he added.
Ibrahim Ramazan, head of Culture and Awareness Against Illicit Drugs, attributed much of the rise in drug use to the geostrategic importance of the Region in drug trafficking.
"According to UN figures, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region were clean in the 1990s until 2003," Ramazan told Rudaw. "But from 2003, drug trafficking started to flourish."
Describing the Kurdistan Region as a "transit" where drugs coming from Iran and Turkey pass through to reach Gulf and European countries, he said that "year after year, more people use it and the data show us drug trafficking in Kurdistan is on the rise."
Lacking in rehabilitation centers to treat addiction, the Region is reliant on grassroots organisations for drug recovery programs.
Launching a 'Say No to Drugs' campaign in Duhok on Wednesday, the head of Panar Organization for Awareness and Health in Society, formerly suffering from drug addiction himself, vowed to assist those afflicted by the habit.
"Our aim is to warn people of the repercussions of using or dealing drugs," Dilgash Shukiur said. "This organization will become a portal for those who are addicted to drugs and would like to embark on a new, normal life."
Though his fledgling organization does not have any precise data about drug addicts, Shukiur echoed many of Barzanji’ concerns. "The number of the users is on the rise especially among the young and it is due to lack of jobs," he said.
"It is untrue that those addicted to drugs cannot kick the habit. It all depends on the will of the person. I was addicted to drugs for 15 years," he said.
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