ARMY ENLISTED IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

Family Planning Body Lectures Soldiers On Substance Abuse

Lebanese army officers yesterday began a "refresher" training seminar on
combating drug addiction in order to lend a hand to a national campaign by
non-governmental organisations.

Almost 40 male and female officers attending the three-day seminar and
workshop at the Choueifat Women's Association offered their assessment and
noted the difficulty of applying theoretical concepts.

General secretary of the Lebanon Family Planning Association (LFPA) Toufic
Osseiran said training the army yields better results due to soldiers'
sense of commitment, dedication and discipline. "University students gave
up very quickly. Soldiers are devoted to things they set their minds to.
This itself proves our mission is on the right track," Osseiran said.

He added that while the LFPA was responsible for training soldiers,
participating officers targeted new recruits who should be introduced to
the dangers of drug addiction and the means to combat it. "Soldiers also
carry the message to other members of the community," he added.

The association is to produce a follow-up programme with the army command
to maximise the outcome of similar seminars.

Despite direct individual benefits, officers at the seminar explained that
due to a heavy load of regular duties, they could not put theoretical
instruction sessions into practical use. "Seminars are very beneficial as
they provide the necessary information that we use when training university
students," Lt Michel Bardawil, an active participant in the discussion
sessions, said.

However, after attending a seminar six months ago, Bardawil said officers
did not practice the material learnt because the army administration did
not ask them to engage in training assignments. "This seminar refreshes our
memory on information we acquired previously but did not apply because we
went back to our routine work," Bardawil said.

In addition to incidents of suicide, every month at least 50 drug addicts
and 50 traffickers are arrested, according to LFPA president Hayan Haidar,
voicing worry and alarm about the future of young generations.

"Who better to carry out the hard work needed to save our population than
our soldiers?" Haidar said. "They are the right group to save our youth
from the miseries of addiction."

Describing it as the "unspoken sickness", Antoine Boustany, head of St
Charles Hospital psychology department, said statistics reflected only a
fraction of actual cases. "We only know the tip of the iceberg - a rough
estimate puts addiction at seven times greater," he said.

In addition to two rehabilitation centres, the department is the country's
only medical institution offering professional treatment to drug addicts.

Boustany argued that a drug addict was biologically sick and needed medical
help prior to psychological treatment and social counselling. "Some people
are born with the right genes - they have better endomorphic secretion
levels, the hormone that increases person's resistance to pain," he said.

He stressed that addiction is a behavioural disorder rather than a material
substance and can be altered but never eradicated. "Four very serious
patients stopped their abuse when they got hooked on another, safe, drug: a
'blinding' love affair," he said.

However, some officers objected to his views, saying a drug abuser should
be punished as a criminal and imprisoned in order to "teach him a lesson".

"If addicts know they can get away with abusing drugs, even enjoy
hotel-like treatment in specialised hospitals, they will repeat it and
others will follow. They should be punished," an attending captain argued.

He said that during the war, drug addicts were divided into two groups:
militiamen who took stimulants during periods of fighting and sedatives
during ceasefires, and civilians, among whom women were abusing
tranquillisers and men alcohol.

After the national campaign to clamp down on cannabis cultivation in the
Bekaa in 1992, Boustany's team saw an increase in the number of alcohol and
over-the-counter tranquilliser abusers, while cases of heroin addiction
diminished.

Boustany complained about the lack of coordination and co-operation between
concerned authorities. "Since neither Deir al-Salib nor the security forces
and health ministry collaborate to curb drug abuse, I will not support any
effort which is not based on scientific methodology or carried out on
national basis," said Boustany, who does not report any of his patients.

Describing the country's growth in drug addiction as a "bizarre
development", LFPA executive director Najla Bizri joined Boustany in
condemning the drug amnesty law which pardoned suspects and convicts in
drug-related crimes committed before December 31, 1996.

Bizri said she was confident officers could help spreading awareness among
other soldiers and thousands of families.

"We hope the army administration responds to our calls and officers support
our efforts targeting university students," she said.