BEIRUT: Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil sent a letter Thursday to the Prime Minister’s office, urging the Cabinet to establish a National Anti-Drug Council, pointing to a rapid increase in drug addiction among young Lebanese.
“Statistics in Lebanon indicate a rapid increase in [addiction] to drugs, alcohol and tranquilizers especially among young people,” Khalil said in his letter. “Some national studies estimate the number of addicts at around 24,000 young people in Lebanon.”
Khalil said that the council should be established in line with Law 673 which was authored in 1998, noting that drug use has become an international affliction which threats the “life of the individual and his future.”
“Its wider social effects make it tantamount to the dangers of great wars that countries face.” “Here lies the importance of forming the national council to combat drugs, as stipulated in Law 673,” he said.
Khalil noted that individuals should not carry the entire responsibility for drug use, which he said was reaching alarming proportions with regard to alcohol, tranquilizes and stimulants.
“There is the family and society, along with biological, psychological, economic and social factors,” he said, adding that low education levels, poverty and violence are among the factors that play a role as well.
“That’s why combating addiction requires efforts from all relevant ministries, civil society, international organizations, medical professional associations and even academia,” Khalil added.
The minister highlighted the need to boost the functions of a committee formed by the Just
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