Israel promoting drugs to 'ruin our society' - NGO chief

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Israel promoting drugs to 'ruin our society' - NGO chief

Experts gather to discuss ways to curb use of hashish, Heroin
By Robert Cusack
Special to The Daily Star
Saturday, June 19, 2010


BEIRUT: An Israeli drug-trafficking network is thriving in Lebanon's underworld, and is more than likely financed by the Israeli government as a way of indirectly weakening Lebanese society the president of the anti-drug NGO JAD said Friday.


Speaking at a conference held at the Parliament on Lebanon's increasing drug problem, Joseph Hawat spoke about the rising figures of drug addicts that are being reported in the Arab world and highlighted Israeli involvement as being a particular threat.


"Last year, we JAD were researching the case of a drug smuggler who was importing chocolate from Egypt that contained LSD and other drugs," he said, "We traced the drug dealer's source in Egypt to an Israeli businessman living in Egypt."


"This is not the only case we have heard of," he added, "But I sincerely believe that Israel is importing hashish and heroin in order to ruin our society."


Also at the conference was Minister of Youth and Sports Ali Hassan Abdullah, who spoke about government plans to fight drug addiction through harsher drug laws and increased accessibility to sports facilities.


"We shall be focusing mainly on stricter punishment for drug dealers," said Abdullah, "We have to make punishment stricter, and so we are looking at the possibility of increasing the punishment for drug-dealing to death."


"We shall be investing LL134 billion, which will be given primarily to NGOs to work in the area of prevention and treatment," he said. The minister did not elaborate on when this initiative would take place.


Abdullah also praised a new campaign backed by JAD called "Sport Against Drugs" which aims to work with sports teams in order to raise awareness about drug usage and pressure the government about new legislation.


According to some experts, however, the government's current policy is not conducive to combatting drug usage, with some pointing to a lack of public drug rehabilitation centers in the country.

"We need to recognize in this country that a drug addict is not a criminal but a sick person needing help," Ali Jammoul, a representative of the Development of People and Nature Association (DPNA) told The Daily Star.


"We have no public hospitals that are willing to give free healthcare for addicts and some centers won't admit them," he said, "The government is ready to spend thousands of dollars on expensive conferences every week but it refuses to pay for drug rehabilitation."


"Young Lebanese people are dying every day from drug usage," said Hawat, "Drugs are now available by home delivery ... and so we have a duty to work against this rise and the increased usage that is being seen in our prisons."


According to a recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there are approximately half a million drug addicts in the Arab region and experts fear that there are reasons to believe that the numbers are growing.


Roula Mouawad, a journalist and moderator of Friday's conference, spoke about drug usage in prisons, in particular describing her visit to the Roumieh Prison with the British ambassador. Mouawad also described Roumieh as "the worst prison" she had ever seen.


"There were 17-year-olds sitting around with 40-year-olds and I was being told that drugs were everywhere," she said. "We need to realize that imprisoning drug users does not help our situation – it only leads to increased interaction with criminals and drugs."


"The government is talking about fighting this problem through increased expenditure on sports – but drugs already exist in sport," said Jammoul.


"They want to spend more money on playgrounds and sport facilities in impoverished areas that have nothing in the way of basic facilities like hospitals," he added.


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(The Daily Star
Lebanon News
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