New hotline to help drug addicts overcome addiction
by Daily Sabah with Wires
ISTANBULJul 08, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah with Wires
Jul 08, 2015 12:00 am
A new hotline was launched on Wednesday to help drug addicts kick the habit. The toll-free hotline will give advice to addicts, their friends and families on how to quit drugs.
Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç inaugurated the hotline in the capital Ankara yesterday. Arınç said the hotline was the next step in an anti-drug action plan the government launched last year. Arınç said that the age of drug users has been dropping recently and cheap synthetic drugs are easily accessible. He said the hotline was part of a three-stage counter-narcotics plan based on prevention, treatment and rehabilitation after treatment. The hotline aims to discourage users in the early stages of drug use by offering professional help.
"Sometimes drug users, fearing judicial processes, avoid seeking treatment and consultation. This hotline will help the public to get quick advice and consultation on where to apply for treatment and rehabilitation and to inform authorities about people at risk of addiction, without risking being ostracized by society and in privacy," Arınç said.
The government announced the Rapid Action Plan Against Drugs last year, inaugurating a more effective ban on drugs and launched a nationwide awareness campaign.
Steps to be taken against drug abuse, especially among high school youth, are included in the plan.
The ministries will work in coordination to set up "an early warning system" in schools to detect troubled youth and cooperate with parent-teacher associations.
As for victims of drug abuse, the government plans to move rehabilitation centers treating alcoholics and drug users to city hospitals. Alcohol and Substance Abuse Therapy and Educational Centers (AMATEM) will be in "maximum security" facilities to prevent patients from skipping treatment.
In terms of the legal struggle against narcotics, the government will introduce a blanket ban on drugs instead of separate bans implemented at different times against each type of drug. All substances with narcotic qualities will be subject to fines and sentences.
An awareness campaign will cover schools where administrators and parents join forces to be more vigilant against drug peddlers in the vicinity of schools, while counter-narcotics teams from the Turkish National Police will patrol those areas in order to prevent drug sales to students.
Drug abuse is relatively low compared to EU countries, with the rate of people between the ages of 15 and 24 experimenting with drugs at 2.7 percent. Still, drugs, whose peddlers have been compared to terrorists by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, threaten to remain prevalent in the country especially with the recent emergence of bonzai, the street name for a synthetic and cheaply-produced drug popular among the youth.
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