- Title: Lebanese group campaigns for drug arrest awareness
- Date: 17th November 2016
- Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (NOVEMBER 11, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BILLBOARD AT SKOUN OFFICES SHOWING VARIOUS POSTERS INCLUDING AN ORANGE BIG ONE READING (Arabic): 'WHAT'S YOUR RIGHT' (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF SKOUN DEALING WITH DRUG POLICY, SANDY MTEIREK, SAYING: "The campaign is called 'Know Your Rights'. It is a campaign from the young people to the young people, and it has three goals. The first goal is to empower and educate the youth about their rights if arrested for the suspicion of using drugs, the second goal is to question anti-drug policies in Lebanon - how effective they are and if they are leading to the results they should provide; and the third goal is to show the violations going under the name of the fight against drugs in Lebanon." VARIOUS OF 'KNOW YOUR RIGHTS' POSTERS ON OFFICE DESK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF SKOUN DEALING WITH DRUG POLICY, SANDY MTEIREK, SAYING: "Drugs are not being effectively tackled since the supply and demand on drugs are still increasing. Violations today are very wide-spread and this is a weight on the Lebanese state as well as on citizens, especially the youth. We are also saying, in conclusion if you want, that it's (fighting against drugs) is not being effective; the fight that should be today on drugs and its spread is ending up by being a fight against young people. The youth are the ones being arrested, discriminated and vulnerable to discrimination and stigmatization while the main goal of fighting against drugs has derailed a lot today." VARIOUS OF SKOUN MEMBERS WORKING IN THE ORGANIZATION OFFICES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF SKOUN, NADYA MIKDASHI, SAYING: "Through our work offering therapeutic services in Skoun, we saw and quickly learned that the problem is much bigger than this - and answers from the state are missing, and even sometimes harmful." VARIOUS OF SIGN ON WALL SHOWING SKOUN LOGO AND READING (English): 'SKOUN'
- Embargoed: 2nd December 2016 10:47
- Keywords: Lebanon campaigns legal police drugs youth addictions
- Location: BEIRUT, LEBANON / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION
- City: BEIRUT, LEBANON / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA00258TYCET
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A Lebanese campaign group are running an initiative to help a vulnerable group of youth that rarely gets support - those arrested for drug offences.
Non-profit organisation Skoun have spent over a decade providing support to addicts and drug users across the country.
Their new campaign's slogan is 'Know Your Rights'.
"It is a campaign from the young people to the young people and it has three goals: the first goal is to empower and educate the youth about their rights if arrested for the suspicion of using drugs; the second goal is to question anti-drug policies in Lebanon - how effective they are and if they are leading to the results they should provide; and the third goal is to show the violations going under the name of the fight against drugs in Lebanon," said Skoun's Sandy Mteirek.
The campaign consists of a series of online videos, as well as leaflets and posters.
Skoun works with various partners in the community and government to ensure social and legal protection for individuals and families affected by the health, social and legal consequences of drug use and addiction.
According to Mteirek, violations start with arrests and continue into police stations and in the courts through interrogations and investigations - they include verbal and physical violence and sometimes humiliation.
But campaigners at Skoun say the current tactics are not only immoral - they also don't work.
"Drugs are not being effectively tackled since the supply and demand on drugs are still increasing. Violations today are very wide-spread and this is a weight on the Lebanese state as well as on citizens, especially the youth. We are also saying, in conclusion if you want, that it's (fighting against drugs) is not being effective; the fight that should be today on drugs and its spread is ending up by being a fight against young people," said Mteirek.
Skoun began in 2003 as the first outpatient therapeutic facility in Lebanon to deal with the prevention and treatment of drug users. They treat hundreds of people each year.
"Through our work offering therapeutic services in Skoun, we saw and quickly learned that the problem is much bigger than this - and answers from the state are missing, and even sometimes harmful," said Skoun co-founder Nadya Mikdashi.
According to the organization, 5,440 people have been arrested for drug use in the past two years and the majority of them are between 18 and 25 years old.
They say 15 percent of youth under the age of 16 in Lebanon know someone who uses drugs, and 32 percent of prisoners at one of Lebanon's biggest prisons, Roumieh, are there on a drug related charges and the prison itself is filled at three times its capacity. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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