“The Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG] is seriously and widely working to eradicate and combat this dangerous threat [drug trafficking], as well as mobilizing all its efforts to prevent its spread,” said Barzani at the conference for combating drugs and psychotropic substances in Erbil.
Barzani said that drugs are a dangerous tool used to oppose and weaken the Kurdistan Region, describing them as a weapon “openly and expertly” used to disrupt societal balance, and impact the health and abilities of the Region’s youth.
He blamed armed groups who filled the security gap in the disputed areas between Iraq and Kurdistan Region as well as at the borders with neighboring countries for interfering with the Kurdish security forces’ effort to combat drug trafficking in the area.
“Unfortunately, some of those armed groups are a part of the drug trafficking themselves,” he added.
The prime minister stressed the importance of differentiating between drug traffickers, which he referred to as “mafias” and drug users, the victims of this phenomenon, underscoring the need to help them by opening rehabilitation centres in the region.
The Region lacks rehabilitation centers for drug addicts, as well as resources to raise awareness about the repercussions of drug use. Most drug consumers end up arrested rather than rehabilitated.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has ordered the establishment of rehabilitation centers in all Iraqi provinces, excluding the Kurdistan Region, as part of his cabinet’s commitment to combat growing drug trade and use as seriously as the country fights terrorism.
Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul-Amir al-Shammari also attended the conference, and stressed the importance of a united effort to combat drug trafficking in the country.
Shammari said his ministry closely cooperates on this matter with other ministries in the government as well as its counterpart in the KRG, including by opening training camps to strengthen the security forces’ ability to combat drug trafficking and educational workshops to raise awareness regarding the dangers of the usage of drugs and other psychotropic substances.
US Consul General in Erbil Mark Stroh said that the US government published a strategy for combating captagon trafficking in June, in the context of which supporting law enforcement operations, applying economic sanctions, providing assistance to regional partners and leveraging diplomatic engagement and public messaging were highlighted as key avenues to explore in the fight against drug trafficking and consumption.
Stroh said that the US is concerned about the effects of captagon and other drugs on the health, economy and social welfare across the Middle East especially in Iraq and Kurdistan Region.
Captagon is an amphetamine-type stimulant which has been spreading across the Middle East, with Syria as the main supplier and Saudi Arabia the primary consumer.
“Since July the global coalition reconvened on the margin of high level events… and we are currently setting up working groups focused on key lines of efforts to confront this challenge over the next 12 to 18 months,” Stroh said, stressing on the need for international action against drugs.
Drug trafficking and use have been on a rise in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, specifically since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The Kurdistan Region’s local security forces (Asayish) have arrested 667 people across the Region on drug-related charges over the first four months of 2023 alone.
In Iraq, around 15,000 suspects were arrested and more than 400 kilograms of narcotics were confiscated in 2022 in Iraq.
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