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Bahrain: Major war on drugs begins
Soman Baby Gulf Daily News
Sunday 30 Jul 2006 BAHRAIN has launched a major campaign, with the support of the UN, to clamp down on drug trafficking and drug abuse. This follows a massive increase in the volume of drugs seized at the airport and other entry points, as well as the number of drug users. Police will receive training on how to catch drug pushers before they are able to sell illegal substances to users. Experts from the UN Organisation for Drug and Crime (UNODC) will visit Bahrain to support the campaign under a $535,600 (BD202,457) agreement signed by Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa and the UN Development Programme. The project is fully funded by the government and has three main objectives, said UNDP programme analyst Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa. They are: * Development of a supply reduction programme; * Development of demand reduction through an awareness programme, and * Creation of a National Drug Control Strategy. The prime component of the project is to support the government's law enforcement exercise on drug control, said Shaikha Hessa. "The training is aimed at ensuring that there is adequate capability for the staff to detect the illicit drugs before they reach the hands of drug users," she told the GDN. A Health Ministry study has earlier revealed that about 90 per cent of HIV and Aids patients in Bahrain are injecting drug users. Shaikha Hessa said a major awareness programme would be launched in Bahrain with the support of UNODC to reduce demand for drugs. The national partners in the programme are the ministries of Interior, Justice, Education and Health, the General Organisation for Youth and Sports and ports and Customs authorities. An inter-ministerial drug committee has already been set up through a decree issued by Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. "We shall work closely with the committee in creating a national drug control strategy," said Shaikha Hessa. "The first task before creating the strategy is a Rapid Situation Assessment (RSA) to study the actual drug situation in the country. "The social, economic and political dynamics of the problem have to be analysed." Government statistics show a large portion of illegal drugs pass through various entry points undetected. According to unofficial estimates, there are up to 20,000 drug users in Bahrain. However, the number of drug users officially registered under the Health Ministry's National Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Programme is only 3,200. One drug user is estimated to take 0.05 grammes of heroin per day, while 1,000 users could consume 18.25 kilogrammes a year. According to the Interior Ministry's figures, the amount of heroin seized in the country increased from 1.3kg in 2000 and 2002 to 11.2kg in 2003 and 9.6kg in 2004. The report also showed a phenomenal growth in the confiscation of cannabis. The authorities seized only 7.4kg hashish in 2000, but this jumped to 809kg in 2004. http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=151074&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=29132
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