19 July 2008
BEIRUT: They are all over Beirut these days: signs and posters that say "addict but not criminal" in a graffiti motif. The posters are part of a campaign, funded by USAID and Amideast, that began on June 26 - World Drug Day - as part of an ongoing push to fully implement the 1998 Lebanese drug law. The campaign's architects are non-governmental organizations (NGO) and rehabilitation centers, such as Oum El Nour, an inpatient center, and SKOUN, an outpatient facility in Beirut. Organizers say they are targeting their message at governmental and legal agencies as well members of civil society.
The Lebanese law in question is supposed to give treatment alternatives to convicted addicts - addiction is, in fact, a crime in Lebanon.
"Whoever is proven addicted will be imprisoned from three months to three years," the law states. "The sentence could be reprieved if the convicted submits themselves to treatment measures ordered by the court," the law adds.
But despite the law's provision for treatment, around 1,500 drug-dependent and drug-using individuals are sent directly to prison every year because the facilities and agencies responsible for taking the drug user into treatment - particularly the National Council to Combat Drugs - do not exist.
The NGOs involved are not campaigning for an amendment of the law, said Mona Yazigi of Oum El Nour. Rather, they are calling for governmental services "to be reactivated or to coordinate with NGOs, exactly within the law."
In theory, a legitimate national council would exist to take in the drug users and direct them to appropriate treatment. The council would provide psychiatric help and refer patients to the right services, as well as provide follow up services.
For now, the organizations are spreading awareness, through the posters and advertisements and by holding discussion groups with NGOs such as Nahwa Muwatiniya and their program Naam Lil Hiwar, whose most recent event took place on July 14.
The campaign also aims to create a referral system between the treatment centers.
Each individual requires "different services, and the NGOs [must coordinate care] so that no one gets lost in the [penal] system," said Nadia Mekdashi of SKOUN.
"The campaign rallied the NGOs together, and created a sense of respect between them," Mekdashi said, adding that it enabled them to lobby for a cause together.
Long-term goals of the campaign involve not only effective implementation of the law, but also training and educating the judicial and police forces about drug addictions and enhancing awareness on the appropriate treatment of drug users.
While both SKOUN and Oum El Nour said that ministries had been cooperative, they also expressed concern about the lack of coordination between ministries, which they said leads to inefficiency.
An "umbrella" is needed to bring together the different ministries involved in the issue of drug use, Yazigi said. Related issues are common to many ministries such as that of Health, Social Affairs and Justice.
A major obstacle in the ministerial work toward the goals of the NGOs is the lack of funding from the government, according to campaign organizers. Mekdashi said she would like to see the National Health Insurance provide a certain amount of funding for drug users and drug-dependent individuals to ensure treatment and rehabilitation.
Copyright The Daily Star 2008.
