YEMEN ESTABLISHES FIRST ADDICTION REHABILITATION CENTER

YEMEN - The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to build a
special center for treating psychological illnesses and drug
addictions, the first of its kind in Yemen, said Dr. Dhyaa Fadhil, a
Psychological Health Program Officer at the Ministry of Health.

She added that the program is to launch an awareness campaign over
drugs trafficking and addiction risks in the different Yemeni
provinces this week.

"This campaign is the first step and will be followed by continual
field visits to all Yemeni schools to promote awareness among
students about the psychological, social, economic and health risks
of addiction," said Fadhil.

Fadhil pointed out that the center will be the foundation block for
curbing the drugs addiction phenomenon that has seen a sharp increase
in the last couple of years. She said this was a result of Yemen
having become a stepping stone for trafficking to neighboring countries.

The program signed an agreement with the Social Fund to equip the
center with all required medical facilities as well as to build an
additional floor for the current building.

Fadhil affirmed that there were no official data about the number of
addicts in Yemen. However she said that the Psychological Health
Program - in collaboration with some other partners - is preparing
to conduct a comprehensive evaluative study of all aspects of the
addiction phenomenon.

In 2008, over 27 tons of narcotics and 14 million pills were seized
within or at Yemeni borders, and around 259 people were arrested for
drug trafficking. 88 percent of those arrested were Yemeni, said a
source from the Anti-Narcotics Directory at the Ministry of Interior.

Last May the special Appeal Penal Court ordered an exorbitant amount
of drugs containing four tons of hashish and millions of narcotic
pills to be destroyed. Judge Saeed al-Aqil, Head of the Specialized
Penal Court, said that these narcotics concern 23 separate criminal
cases in which 75 suspects of different nationalities are involved.
The suspects' nationalities include 47 Yemenis, 12, Pakistanis, 10
Iranians, 2 Syrians, 2 Saudis, 1Eritrean and 1 Ethiopian.

The amount of hashish seized weighed in at 4,604,366 kilograms, while
6,380,000 narcotic pills were taken, all of which were obtained by
the authorities in 2009. The drugs were captured in Sana'a ,
Hadramout, Hodeidah, Hajja, Sa'adah, and al-Maharah. Al-Aqil went on
to say that, , "Yemen itself is not a narcotic consumer country as is
the case in other countries, but its geographical position makes it a
distinctive transit station for trafficking carried out by drug gangs."

The Preliminary Penal Court's Judge, Radhwan al-Namir, said the
majority of the narcotic pills come from Syria and Lebanon, while the
Hashish comes from East Asia.

Drug addicts hail from all segments of society. Since the cost of
drugs varies so dramatically, both the poor and the rich can afford
them. In the meantime, a great number of Yemeni youth are falling
into the drug addiction trap. On the 22nd of July 2008, Life Makers
organization announced a project to establish the first sanatorium to
treat drug addicts in Yemen. Following that, Adnan al-Washali,
Executive Director at Life Makers Foundation said, "The idea was
initiated 5 years ago. Life Makers Organization-Yemen was assigned by
the Right Start Foundation and the Dubai Police to run an addiction
consequences awareness program.

Since drug addicts are considered criminals in the eyes of society,
it's very difficult to take the needed actions for treating them.
"Addicts are socially convicted criminals, so it was natural to
experience difficulties in establishing the treatment center," he added.