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Summary on Drug Use at Middle East and North Africa |
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Friday, 09 April 2010 |
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"Drug statistics keep speaking loud and clear. Past runaway growth has flattened out and the drug crisis of the 1990s seems under control….the major markets for opiates (Europe and South East Asia), cocaine (North America), and cannabis (North America, Oceania and Europe) are in decline. The increase in consumption of synthetic stimulants, particularly in East Asia and the Middle East, is cause for concern, although use is declining in developed countries."
The world Drug Report – 2009 that was developed and launched by UNODC report demonstrated that the number of people who uses drugs at the global level whose age between 15 – 64 is 18 – 38 million persons, knowing that the total number of people aged between 154 – 64 years in 2007 is 4,343 million persons.
Among those the number of people who used drugs at least once in the past year is 172 – 250, Number of people who inject drugs aged 15 -64 years: 11 – 21 million persons. The number of people who used opiates at least once in 2007 is estimated between 15 and 21 million people at the global level. The highest levels of use (in terms of the proportion of the population aged 15-64 years) are found along the main drug trafficking routes close to Afghanistan.
Amphetamines-group users in East and South-East Asia primarily consume Methamphetamine. Tablets sold as Captagon often contain amphetamine, and are used throughout the near and Middle East .
The highest number of illicit drug users in 2007 for people aged 15-64 in the near and Middle East is estimated: 7,440,000 to 10,200,000 for the cannabis, that is followed by the users of opiates which number is 1,680,000 to 2,910,000, knowing that also a number of population of the same age consumed the Cocaine, Amphetamines and ecstasy that number couldn't be calculated
The most countries of the drug users' population from the MENA region are:
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Israel
The trends of drugs used in these countries are:
The opiates, the Cocaine, the cannabis, the Amphetamines and the Ecstasy To read the entire report please click on the link below
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2009/June/global-coverage-of-the-world-drug-report-2009.html |
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HIV set to rise in Lebanon if heroin use continues to grow |
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Thursday, 10 September 2009 |
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BEIRUT: HIV diagnoses are predicted to rise if drug use in Lebanon continues to grow in popularity, an addiction center spokeswomen said Thursday. The dangerous practice of sharing heroin needles is said to be responsible for the increase in the number of HIV cases in Lebanon, said Dala Fakhredine, a psychotherapist at the Lebanese addiction center Skoun To read the entire article please follow the link below http://www.aidsportal.org/News_Details.aspx?ID=11366 |
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Drug Use |
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Tuesday, 18 December 2007 |
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Using any kind of drugs is harmful by itself, as well as using a mixture of different kinds of drugs increases the risk of harm and complications. But using drugs via the Intra Venous (IV) route is considered the most harmful types of addiction on the human health. Besides the common risks of almost all kinds of drugs, IV drug use is considered one of the major reasons of getting infected with Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).
Unfortunately, overdose is considered a major death cause among IV drug users. Heroin is considered one of the major substances used in injecting drugs, and mostly known as a cause for overdose.Apparently, most heroin IV drug users know of someone at least who has died as a result of overdose, and one of three have experienced overdose by themselves and survived it. Worrying about the lives of drug addicts; necessitates warning them by discussing with them the risks of addiction in general and especially the risks of overdose, and teaching them how to act in case of emergencies which will help them in saving their lives as quickly as possible. One of the major slogans used in helping drug addicts is: "Act Fast to Save Life."
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Last Updated ( Friday, 22 February 2008 )
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What’s the price for the life of drug user? Where is Hep C treatment advocacy? |
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Thursday, 11 June 2009 |
By Gregg Gray
People are dying not of HIV but of Hepatitis C – is this the recurrent take home message of Harm Reduction 2009, hosted by the International Harm Reduction Association in Bangkok? As heard during the session on Harm Reduction Donors: Feedback, Opportunities and Challenges, no one really picked up the gauntlet to ask why Hep C treatment is so costly and what can we do to address it.
To read the entire article, please follow this URL link:
http://healthdev.net/site/post.php?s=5280 |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 June 2009 )
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At What Cost? HIV and Human Rights Consequences of the Global War on Drugs |
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Monday, 23 February 2009 |
A decade after governments worldwide pledged to achieve a "drug-free world," there is little evidence that the supply of or demand for illicit drugs has decreased. Instead, aggressive drug control policies have led to widespread human rights violations and fueled epidemics of HIV and AIDS among people who use drugs.
As nations of the world prepare to gather in Vienna this March to assess progress on drug control, this book examines the descent of the global “war on drugs” into a war on people who use drugs. After reading the stories in this volume of drug users beaten and strip-searched in public streets, forced to confess to criminal acts while undergoing painful and unmedicated withdrawal, and incarcerated without trial in prisons with high HIV infection rates, the question is no longer whether a drug-free world is possible – it is whether governments will be held accountable for violating human rights in their efforts to achieve it.
The following topics are included in this volume:
- Police Abuse of Injection Drug Users in Indonesia
- Arbitrary Detention and Police Abuse of Drug Users in Cambodia
- Forced Drug Testing in China
- Drug Control Policies and HIV Prevention and Care Among Injection Drug Users in Imphal, India
- Effects of United Nations and Russian Influence on Drug Policy in Central Asia
- The Impacts of the Drug War in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Civil Society Reflections on 10 Years of Drug Control in Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam
- Twin Epidemics–Drug Use and HIV/AIDS in Pakistan |
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Injecting drugs, drug users, HIV & AIDS |
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Tuesday, 17 February 2009 |
Millions of people worldwide are injecting drug users (IDUs), and blood transfer through the sharing of drug taking equipment, particularly infected needles, is an extremely effective way of transmitting HIV. Around 30% of global HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa are caused by the use of injecting drugs, and it accounts for an ever growing proportion of those living with the virus.
To read more, please follow this URL link:
http://www.avert.org/injecting.htm |
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BEYOND 2008 DECLARATION |
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Tuesday, 17 February 2009 |
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We, participants in the “Beyond 2008” International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Forum, representing the culmination of thirteen consultations in all nine regions of the world and involving over 500 NGOs from 116 countries and 65 international NGOs; Acknowledge the long history of the Vienna Non-Governmental Organizations Committee on Narcotic Drugs (VNGOC) and its work to bring NGO contributions to United Nations (UN) drug policy events, Note that NGOs are often the main providers of established and innovative services for those who use illicit drugs or misuse licit drugs and can thus be uniquely placed to make contact with and give voice to the individuals, families and communities impacted by drug use and drug policies for the purpose of promoting the development and implementation of more effective policies, programs and practices, Acknowledge the human rights abuses against people who use drugs as an affected population and encourage Member States, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and other relevant organisations to solicit the participation of all affected and stigmatised populations in identifying and responding to these human rights abuses, to illicit/harmful drug use1 and to its adverse health, social and economic consequences, Read more at http://vngoc.org/details.php?id_cat=13&id_cnt=59 |
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"Drug Users have Rights like any other person" |
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Tuesday, 17 February 2009 |
My story with drugs is a long one if you consider my age. I used different types of drugs, from pills to Hashish to Cocaine for 10 years, which is more than one-third of my age – I am now 27 years old.
I have stopped using drugs and I have been working as a peer educator and supporter for drug users for 4 years. I do this work so that I can help them to avoid disease and sexually transmitted infections.
We do this work in the streets with delegation from the NGO, and we remain in contact with a supervisor from the NGO in case we face any problems or trouble. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 February 2009 )
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Read more...
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Technical Guide for countries to set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, for IDUs |
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Wednesday, 11 February 2009 |
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Dear all, Here you find the URL link of the new Technical Guide for countries to set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care for injecting drug users (IDUs). The guide was developed by WHO HQ, WHO EURO, UNODC and UNAIDS. This document provides technical guidance to countries on setting ambitious, but achievable national targets for scaling up towards universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care for injecting drug users and provides countries with:
• A framework and process to set national targets
• A comprehensive package of core interventions for IDUs (the first UN document to do so)
• A set of indicators and indicative targets (or “benchmarks”) to be used to set programmatic objectives, and monitor and evaluate HIV interventions for IDUs
• Examples of data sources. It is also available on http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/idu/en/index.html |
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Drug use 
