by Jamal Hashim, Ali al-Khaiyam
BAQUBA, Iraq, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Officials in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, warned of proliferation of drug abuse among youths as fears of turning the volatile province into a center of drug trafficking in Iraq rise.
Nehad Kareem, an official in the city hall of Baquba, capital of Diyala, accused militant groups of being responsible for the escalation of the problem by dealing and facilitating drug smuggling from neighboring Iran.
"They bring drugs from Iran and make them available and cheap for youths and even children. It has become an evident phenomenon in Diyala, particularly in Baquba," Kareem told Xinhua.
"We believe that those groups are serving foreign agendas inside Iraq. They are booming drug trafficking in the country to fund their activities in Iraq," Kareem said.
Diyala province, which stretches from the east edges of Baghdadto the eastern Iranian border, has long been a stronghold for Shiite and Sunni extremist militias, including Mahdi Army loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and al-Qaida in Iraq network.
Kareem said that intelligence reports indicate that there are plans to make the province a center of drug in Iraq and the country in turn to be the drug route for the whole region.
"We believe the drugs, like heroin or marijuana, are brought into the country by visitors from Iran, especially during Shiite religious rituals that attract hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from the Shiite Muslim world, particularly Iran," he said.
Ali al-Taie, a police officer from the provincial drug department, said that during the past two weeks his forces raided many suspected drug trafficking sites and captured many suspects.
"We know that drug traffic is protected by terrorists and insurgents because such activity would provide a good financial source for their armed attacks. They use drugs to recruit youths for carrying out armed attacks and sometimes suicide attacks," Taie told Xinhua.
The drugs are being sold near school entrances in many cities of the province and some children even smuggle drugs into schools, Taie said, adding "We can do little to this phenomenon because my men are very busy with daily violence."
The increase of drug abuse among children and youths in the province is worrying specialists like Basheer Tariq al-Zubaidi, a sociologist in Baquba who said that unemployment, poverty and violence are the main reasons behind the rising number of drug users.
"I believe that drug abuse amongst children and youths is worldwide phenomenon, not limited to conflict zones, although I agree that such zones could be an additional reason for the easy availability of different narcotics because of chaos and absence of law power," Zubaidi said.
In many cases, the increase in number of drug dealers, particularly among youths and children, could be seen as psychological effects of poverty, depression and violence that ledthe victims find it easy ways to forget about the loss of their loved ones who were killed by the ongoing circle of violence that ravaged Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, he said.
"Tackling drug abuse is a complex and difficult issue, it needs to involve the full spectrum of Iraqi families, communities, government circles and nongovernmental organizations," Zubaidi said.
Dealing with drug abuse is a challenging issue in peace-time, but in the times of conflicts, the challenges are certainly multiplying, he concluded.
The International Narcotics Control Board warned that Iraq has become a transit point for drugs with traffickers working with insurgents and terrorists, and called on the international community to tackle the problem.
"It appears that trafficking organizations are increasingly exploiting the situation in Iraq to smuggle drugs, mainly into countries on the Arabian peninsula," the UN drug body said in its annual report.
"First time I used drug was when my father was killed in front of my eyes two years ago. It wasn't fair. He was old and so kind," Sa'ad, 22, a drug addict from a poor family in Baquba, said with tears in his eyes.
"The drug was the only way for me to get rid of my suffering. Life is hard and I will not leave the drug and won't give up smoking cigarettes," said Sa'ad, who works as a taxi driver in Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad.
Numan, 20, another drug addict, said, "I can't give it up now, because it makes me feel high."
"It is available and cheap that everyone can buy it, nevertheless, sometimes when I have no money, I sniff glue with my friends to get high," said Numan who started to use drugs four months ago with his friends in Baquba.
