KUWAIT: A scientific workshop organized by the Secretariat General of the Arab Federation for Drug Prevention about mental programming through social media and its relation to addiction revealed one of the methods used by drug gangs and organizations. They encourage this fatal lesion through "brain programming" and giving information through media to minimize the dangers of drugs and adopt it as an accepted social behavior.

The lectures were moderated by Psychologist Dr Nadia Al-Obaidi, Secretary General of AFDP Dr Khalid Ahmad Al-Saleh, International Relations Officer at AFDD Dr Hussa Majid Al-Shaheen and Professor of Recreational Psychology Dr Ghanima Al-Haidar. Papers that were presented at the workshop showed the means used in brainwashing.

The most important was research presented by Dr Saleh, which is the separation between the conscious and the subconscious mind, utilizing information and benefiting from publishing much information to inject youth's brains with information stored in the subconscious mind, which will at the end control their behavior and push them to try drugs, then become addicted.

Studies revealed many famous personalities were used to promote drugs, and these names were mentioned in the workshop to show the ability of international and regional establishments to prepare major leaderships to promote drugs. Dr Obaidi spoke about the importance of adopting linguistic nervous programming to reflect the attempts and recreate the pattern of optimistic thinking to deter electronic attacks that aim at instilling information in youth.

Dr Shaheen spoke about the role of the family in Arab and Kuwaiti societies in recognizing the means used to control children and youth's minds, most important of which is addiction that is spreading among youth that reached children while in seclusion with social media tools, and the control of electronic attacks on their brains. Dr Haidar spoke about the use by drug gangs of entertainment means to attract youth to use drugs.

The workshop recommended in cooperation with Kuwait Social Association to contact officials at the information, education and social affairs ministries and ask them for more research and studies to evaluate the Kuwaiti reality with regards to social information and the messages and their effect on youth. It added that the e-information department should have researchers in the field of mind programming and social studies to uncover the means by which children's minds are being fed to make them use drugs.