SIDON: More than 400 people were arrested in south Lebanon last year on charges of taking or trafficking in drugs, the head of the anti-drug department in the south said Wednesday.
“Eighty-two percent of the detained drug users are between the ages of 20 and 40,” said Maj. Henry Mansour, during a gathering to discuss means to enhance treatment and fighting back against addiction, organized by the Sidon Order of Physicians at its headquarters in the southern coastal city.
Entitled “Awareness, Precaution and Treatment,” the gathering was attended by head of the order, Dr. Hisham Qaddoura, representatives from the Health Ministry, the Lebanese-Palestinian Health Committee and a number of hospitals and health institutions.
Mansour said that 68 percent of the people taken into custody for the offenses were found to be using hashish, followed by heroin (10 percent) and cocaine (5 percent) as the most common illegal narcotics. The remainder (14 percent) consumed more than one substance while 3 percent were found to be using a combination of prescription pharmaceuticals.
Mansour expressed his regret that the number of drug users and traffickers had “significantly” increased in the last decade.
“In 2000, a total of 83 people were detained in Sidon and south Lebanon, but this figure reached 430 in 2010, 344 of whom were arrested on charges of using drugs, and the others on trafficking and promotion,” said Mansour.
The figures showed that teenagers formed a small segment of the total of those arrested.
“Eight percent are below 20 years of age, 50 percent between 21 and 30, 24 percent between 31 and 40 and 15 percent between 41 and 50,” he noted.
Mansour said some of those addicted to tranquilizers used forged prescriptions bearing fake names of physicians.
He said that physicians, government officials and civil society institutions should work together to combat the growing phenomenon.
Following a number of proposals made by participants the order recommended that the national Order of Physicians and the Health Ministry adopt a single mechanism throughout the country to control the misuse of prescriptions for tranquilizers.
The gathering proposed that prescriptions clearly include details such as the full name of the patient, address, medical diagnosis, method of usage and the treatment period, in order to protect patients and prevent drug users from exploiting prescriptions.

From: The Daily Star – Thursday 20 January 2011 (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/Jan/20/Illegal-and-prescription-drug-abuse-up-in-south-Lebanon.ashx#ixzz26oIWhHf0)