GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES NEW DRUGS STRATEGY

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday announced it has started implementing a national
drug strategy to stamp out what has become a growing problem in Cyprus society.

Health Minister Dina Akkelidou said the increase in the use and spread of
narcotics was primarily due to the lack of state policy to combat the
phenomenon. The government has now prepared its 'Strategy and Action Plan
for Drugs' for the period 2003-2007, she said.

Akkelidou, who is also Chairman of the Cyprus Anti-drug Council, outlined
some of the basic problems, including the increase of drug use among young
people, the growing demand for treatment and the absence of drug
detoxification and rehabilitation centres.

As part of the new strategy, a National Drug Monitoring and Information
Centre will be set up, which will be linked to the European Monitoring
Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in Lisbon, she said.

Akkelidou said the Cabinet had recently approved the Ministry's proposal
for three new structures: physical detoxification, psychological
rehabilitation and social reintegration, and treatment communities for
minors. The deadline for their implementation has been set for the end of
this year, she added.

Statistics have shown that a growing number of teenagers are now using
drugs, with 50 per cent of 15-19-year-old drug users using heroine. In one
recent case, a nine-year-old girl was found to be abusing drugs. Referring
to the case, Akkelidou said it was "tragic" and "harrowing" that someone
could get involved in such a dangerous web at such a tender age.

Some people have also linked increasing drug use among minors with an
increase in petty crime over past years and have called for the government
to penalise such offenders. But the scientific committee chairman of the
national strategy plan, Andreas Demetriou, said minors arrested for drug
use would not go to jail. "Instead the judge will tell them a drug
rehabilitation programme exists and will send them to join it," he said.

Demetriou said treating just one user would prevent four more from being
born, because the primary user would not lead others to drugs.

The new policy aims to increase the number of addicts being treated and to
ease their reintegration into society through the creation of adult and
minor rehabilitation centres, said Akkelidou. It is the first time such a
venture has been undertaken in Cyprus, she said.

The minister added that the strategy also aimed to reduce drug demand so
that fewer younger people started using illegal substances. This will also
reduce deaths and other consequences associated with drug use, such as the
spread of transmittable diseases like AIDS.