Psychiatrists treating drug addiction have warned that there is a dangerous increase in drug abuse among young people as 6,000 people accused of drug trafficking and promotion have been arrested in the course over the past five months.
"Unfortunately, what we are witnessing is an increase in the number of drug users, and this, I believe, is due to the weakness in the social aspect and a great responsibility that rests on the family and society as well," Haider Al-Malki, a consultant of psychiatry, neurology and addiction treatment told Rudaw's Anmar Ghazi on Thursday.
The Iraqi government has taken strict measures to curb the phenomenon, as the General Directorate of Narcotics Control in the Ministry of Interior confirms that it has arrested more than 20,000 drug users and seized millions of narcotic pills and more than 500,000 kilos of psychotropic substances during the last two years and a half.
The Iraqi government has stressed that they will exert maximum efforts to secure the border between Iraq and neighboring Iran, Colonel Bilal Sobhi, director of the Relations and Information Department of the General Directorate of Narcotics Control in the Ministry of Interior, said.
Official information indicates that crystal and cannabis enter the southern provinces, mainly Basra from the Iranian side, while Captagon pills and psychotropic substances enter through Syria to the western provinces, from where drug dealers spread them to the entire country.
Like other parts of the country, the Kurdistan Region too has been gripped by the skyrocketing number of drug addicts and dealers.
In 2021, 1,943 people were arrested on drug-related charges, including dealing, using, and promoting substance use, according to the Kurdistan
Region’s Anti-narcotics Department.
