Experts Urge Proper Care For Drug Addicts

Drug abusers should be treated as patients, not criminals, and
rehabilitation programs should replace imprisonment, according to experts
addressing the need to curtail the illegal use of drugs.

Physicians from the region's health ministries and hospitals convened at
the Marriott Hotel for a three-day World Health Organization conference
exploring the problem of drug use and HIV infection. The conference ended
on Saturday with a list of recommendations to be implemented at a
country-wide level.

"Drug users are humans, too, and have rights," said M.T. Abu Saleh,
clinical director for sddiction services at the St. George's Medical School
in London. "The Universal Declaration for the Mentally Ill enumerates their
human rights. They're entitled to the best healthcare and shouldn't be
treated as criminals."

Abu Saleh said drug addiction was the "most serious mental disorder" and
needed specialized care. Samia Ghazawi, director of the Lebanese Health
Ministry's drug directorate, agreed: "We have to say clearly that substance
abusers are sick so that we can better insure their right to rehabilitation."

Lebanon's law on drug abuse now conforms to international standards. In
1998, a new law replaced 1946 legislation that considered all drug users as
criminals. Today, they are given the option between rehabilitation and
imprisonment.

Although drug-prevention programs have traditionally focused on cutting the
supply of drugs, governments now prefer to establish centers that provide
treatment for abuse. "Supply reduction and the use of punitive measures
without attention to the social and health aspects of drug abuse, have
proved insufficient in reducing substance abuse in many countries," said
Hussein Gezairy, WHO's regional director. "It's now a common belief that
supply reduction strategies should go hand in hand with policies aimed at
demand reduction."

"This means that even if the substances are available, there is no demand,"
explained Abdel-Rahman Asfour, director of the al-Gahraa Health District at
the Kuwaiti Health Ministry. "Through treatment and public awareness
campaigns, we can help young people refuse drugs if they are offered."

While Lebanon has made great strides in the reduction of drug production,
Ghazawi stressed that more needs to be done to reduce the demand as well:
"Families in the Bekaa region don't grow hashish as much anymore. So while
we've done a great deal in addressing the supply, we need to work on both
supply and demand."

According to participants, another problem in need of attention is the
increase in drugs that are injected because of the risk of contracting HIV,
the virus that causes AIDS.

"Injecting drugs has the potential of becoming the main source of HIV
transmission in this region," said Gezairy. "Between 1989 and 1998, about 4
percent of total AIDS cases were due to drug injections."

The drug-related spread of HIV can take a number of dimensions and
threatens the region with explosive outbreaks, he continued. "There is good
reason to believe that injecting drugs may fuel the next wave of HIV spread
in the region, and that containing the epidemic will become increasingly
difficult."