KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Ministry of Social Affairs is exerting all possible efforts to encounter and fight the scourge of drugs due to destructive impacts on the families and society, Minister of Social Affairs and Community Development May Al-Baghli said Monday.

Speaking to KUNA, Al-Baghli, who doubles as Minister of State for Women and Children's Affairs, said that narcotics are threatening the families, and youth, so this danger should be fought by all possible means. In this regard, the ministry has formed a permanent committee to perform a number of tasks, mainly studying the cases of addicts involved in the Central Prison's rehabilitation program, she added.

May Al-Baghli

The committee is also tasked with studying the cases of juveniles who are already drug addicts or are prone to addiction and setting out a rehabilitation program for them. Furthermore, the newly-formed committee has already studied 154 cases, affiliated to the rehabilitation program, and provided the Central Prison with relevant findings for the period between February 2022 and end of September of the same year, she said. Another 86 cases are currently under consideration by the same panel, the minister of social affairs pointed out.

Also as part of its efforts to fight drug addiction and to save young people from relevant hazards, the ministry held a four-day training course for drugs prevention, themed: "Our Youth, Our Responsibility", she said." "The ministry is keen on protecting students by organizing various awareness-raising lectures for them at schools in cooperation with the Ministry of Education," she said. The Ministry of Social Affairs, through its national cooperative projects committee, also financed a KD 3.3-million project for treating drug addicts at Al-Shuwaikh health district, the minister informed.

The minister concluded by emphasizing that her ministry is doing all what it can in order to raise public awareness about the scourge of illegal drugs and risks of addiction.

Kuwait addiction treatment center welcomed voluntary admission as it is the first positive sign towards recovery from addiction. According to the Interior Ministry's anti-narcotics department periodic bulletin said that it was important to test individuals for substance abuse to determine the correct way for treatment.

The most important step is acknowledging the problem by the individual by himself or herself and seeking voluntary admission, indicated the bulletin. Parents or family members of the addict could also come forward and report a case of addiction. Several steps are included in the treatment journey with the first being the admission to the center, the second is the withdrawal symptoms and finally the most important part soldiering on the road of recovery. The life of an addict could continue after recovery with education, working and other activities of life. - KUNA