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Egypt faces the scourge of hashish
Ennahar Online Monday 05 Apr 2010 In its first oage, the official daily Al-Ahram has even felt able to proclaim the end of fighting: "The Interior Ministry imposes its control over the drug market," he argued on Saturday, noting that a " General Safety report (...) confirmed the complete eradication of trafficking hashish in Egypt. " But in a country where, according to an official inquiry in 2007, 8% of the estimated 80 million people use drugs, primarily marijuana, decreeting such a victory seems unlikely. "The fight is never over," confirmed Deputy Interior Minister, Hamdi Abdel Karim. "We hope to continue to curb the" drug trafficking, he says. Since the beginning of the year, Egyptian authorities have seized more than six tons of hashish (cannabis resin). This statistic is a good point for the government with a population predominantly conservative. From a consumer perspective, the shortage is felt. "I bought 3,500 Egyptian pounds (about $ 635) of hashish for my wedding. A few months ago for the same quantity, it would have cost 2600 LE (470 USD)," lamented a Cairo inhabitant. "And it took me months to get it (...), it made me crazy. I finally got it the day of the ceremony," he adds. According to him, "Everyone now says there's nothing left. Hashish present on the Egyptian market is largely imported illegally from Morocco through the porous borders between Egypt and Libya. Contacted by AFP, another consumer has confirmed that to obtain the drug had become complex in Cairo, a metropolis of 20 million inhabitants. In desperation, some seem to have turned to bango, local marijuana, whose prices have also soared. "I prefer hashish, bango makes me crazy, it's too strong," says a regular customer. In a country where mistrust vis-à-vis the power is great, other than simple repression theories have also surfaced. One of the most common is to see the work of corrupt officials who organize the current shortage to push up prices, said a political analyst who require anonymity in order not to see his name attached to the subject – drug still a taboo - in Egypt. "The police and government are generally perceived as corrupt. There is a total lack of confidence" to them, he says, noting that the current uncertainty surrounding the future of the Egyptian government is conducive to the emergence of all sorts of rumors and fantasies. Aged 81 years, President Hosni Mubarak, in power since 1981, has not yet said if he would run for the presidential election next year. His son, Gamal, might succeed him. "In this atmosphere of opacity, speculation continues apace," said political analyst. http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/international/3592.html
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