Over 340 Kuwaitis, expats reported their kids’ drug abuse in 3 months

Over 340 Kuwaitis, expats reported their kids’ drug abuse in 3 months

‘Volunteers subject to treatment, rehabilitation’

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 18: Within the framework of continuous efforts to combat the phenomenon of drugs and to raise awareness of its dangers, reliable sources said more than 340 citizens and residents reported their addicted children during the past three months. After realizing their inability to contain the situation, they urged the concerned authorities to correct their behavior, treat them and rehabilitate them, reports Al- Qabas daily. The sources said, “We consider this step as a good one that serves as a societal awareness of the dangers of this devastating scourge.

These deadly toxins represent an imminent danger to young people who are the wealth of the nation. Everyone must join efforts to combat them and besiege their promoters, as well as implement plans aimed at treating addicts. An addict who presents himself to the Public Prosecution Office or whose family reports him, is exempted from punishment and subject to treatment and rehabilitation. The voluntary admission of a person who uses or is addicted to drugs or psychotropic substances, to the addiction treatment center located in the Sabah Health Zone, either alone or with any of his family members, is the first correct step on the right path.

Awareness
The Ministry of Interior, represented by the Criminal Security Sector’s Drugs Control General Department, focuses, in its periodic awareness bulletins, including the booklet ‘Drug Prevention Messages’, on the fact that an addict is examined after he surrenders on his own to ensure that he has used or is addicted to drugs or psychotropic substances.

The attending physician in the addiction treatment center opens a file for him, and then he is directed either to enter the center or go to the outpatient clinic after signing an acknowledgment of acceptance of treatment. The first step in treating a drug user is to remove the drug toxins from the blood during a period from seven to ten days, according to a medical treatment program. It will then be followed by psychological and social treatment and many programs that support his recovery and prevent relapse. In the event that the addict does not come forward voluntarily, the alternative step is for his family to present a “complaint of addiction” report to the Drugs and Liquor Prosecution in accordance with Law No. 74/1983 or Law No. 48/1987.

After that, the report is referred to the Drug Control General Department for coordination and implementation of the Prosecution orders. The subject is invited to attend, and if he does not comply, he will be arrested. He is then sent for treatment to the addiction treatment center, where the specialist doctor examines him. If it is proven that he has abused drugs, the Public Prosecution office will be notified of that, and an order will be issued to detain him for a period not exceeding three weeks. This detention period will be renewed according to the procedures followed.

As for the third step, it is for the abuser or addict or any of his relatives to apply directly to the Drug Control General Department where they will be directed to file an addiction complaint with the Drugs and Liquor Prosecution. The addict will either be referred to an addiction treatment center, or will be directed to follow up with a counseling office until he recovers, or will be sent to specialized centers abroad for treatment. According to Law No. 74/1983 regarding combating drugs and regulating their use and trafficking, article 34 of the law stipulates that no criminal case shall be leveled against a drug user who voluntarily comes forward for treatment, and the patient is placed under observation in a sanatorium for a period not exceeding three weeks.”

Addiction
Consultant Bibi Al-Amiri, Head of the Mental Health Lighthouse for Children and Adolescents at the Kuwait Center for Mental Health affiliated with the Ministry of Health, said drug addiction is medically considered a “psychological disorder” that requires an intensive treatment program. Dr. Al-Amiri explained that “psychological disorder” is an incubating environment for drug abuse and addiction due to the ease of response to external influences, such as the environment affected by the scourge of drugs, bad people, and others. The factors associated with the disorder, such as severity of fear, anxiety, shyness in front of others, isolation, etc., lead them to drug use of all kinds in order to help them overcome the difficulty and not undergo the correct psychological treatment.

Those involved in the scourge of drugs usually begins at the age between 13 and 15 years due to the factors related to this age such as high impulsiveness, and desire to discover and identify narcotic substances in natural synchronization with the development and formation of the brain. Those who have a genetic (biological) susceptibility are more likely to be addicted than others in order to feed their internal needs. About 50 percent of mental disorders for children begin before they reach 14 years of age. She stressed the need to shed light on these categories in order to search for defects and find radical solutions to them in order to avoid their occurrence or to treat them in the event of addiction.

Al-Amiri said, “The distribution of mental disorders of all kinds around the world is numerically close, but the difference lies in their severity and the sources of treatment. This severity appears more clearly in our regions due to the presence of the so-called “genetic basin”, including autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar. The presence of an addict within the family circle puts him in a state of constant fear and anxiety about the unknown because of the lack of a sense of total safety, which may gradually affect the rest of the family, and thus generate other cases that are subject to abuse and addiction. Discovering imbalances and knowing the target segments early opens the door to avoiding and protecting all groups. Activating the role of psychological treatments through schools, clubs, sports and ministerial facilities, and others is no less important than the rest of the other efforts in the same field.

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