Tuesday 28/October/2025 – 12:18 PM
Dr. Amr Othman, Director of the Fund for Combating and Treating Addiction and Abuse, the expert responsible for preparing the Arab plan to prevent the dangers of drugs, reviewed the implementation mechanisms in light of the developments in the drug problem based on the United Nations report and its repercussions on the Arab countries. The report indicated 316 million people, which is the number of people who used drugs around the world, an increase of 20% during the last 10 years. There are also many users who suffer from abuse or addiction disorders, and that about 500 thousand Deaths in the world due to drugs.
Mechanisms for implementing the Arab plan to prevent and reduce the dangers of drugs on Arab society
The global report also indicated that there is a close connection between drugs, organized crime, violence, and illicit money flows, and that drugs represent more than 50% of the economic activity of organized criminal groups globally, and that young people, especially those aged 15 to 19 years, are 45% more likely to die from drugs than adults, in addition to the emergence of new substances within synthetic drugs and their different types that many countries of the world face. Its impact is many times higher than that of heroin, which is why it was important to launch the implementation of the Arab Plan for Drug Prevention.
The plan is the first document concerned with reducing the demand for drugs at the Arab level, and it constitutes a guiding framework to support countries in preparing policies to reduce the demand for drugs in light of international standards. It also helps countries fulfill their international pledges and commitments to the relevant international agreements, and also helps in consolidating the human rights perspective in the issue of reducing the demand for drugs at its three levels. It also represents an added value to help countries achieve sustainable development goals. “The Arab Declaration issued by the University of Arab countries in 2016 to implement the sustainable development plan.
Othman pointed to the plan’s work axes, where the exchange of experiences and information between Arab countries will be strengthened, and preventive guides will be prepared in accordance with international standards and in a manner consistent with Arab privacy, in addition to designing indicative programs in the field of treating and rehabilitating addiction patients and integrating them into society. He explained that it is proposed to establish a technical mechanism affiliated with the League of Arab States to continuously follow up on the implementation of the plan’s activities, pointing to the most prominent existing challenges. This is the lack of specific bodies responsible for reducing the demand for drugs in many Arab countries, as well as the lack of national policies and plans to reduce the demand for drugs in many Arab countries, as well as the weakness and limitation of prevention programs based on evidence assessment, the limited infrastructure, the number of treatment and rehabilitation centers in many Arab countries, and the limited capacity building programs, diplomas and postgraduate studies to prepare cadres according to a solid scientific method.
The plan was also carried out in a participatory framework with the participation of experts from the Fund for Combating and Treating Addiction in Egypt, the League of Arab States, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Confrontation efforts in Arab countries were also evaluated based on a questionnaire completed by countries regarding the reality and challenges of the drug problem, as well as a review of the current situation of the problem based on surveys and studies conducted at the national and regional levels. The most recent was the report issued by UNODC on the reality of the problem in the Arab world in May 2021.
For her part, Christia Albertin, Regional Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for the Middle East and North Africa (UNODC), said that since the adoption of the Arab Plan in March 2023, this constituted an important step, because it is important to work hand in hand with member states to strengthen national and regional capabilities through technical support, advice, data, research and international cooperation.
For his part, Minister Plenipotentiary Tariq Nabil Al-Nabulsi, Director of the Department of Development and Social Policies, responsible for the Technical Secretariat of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs, said that this important conference comes to implement the Arab plan to prevent and reduce the dangers of drugs on Arab society from a social perspective, and in implementation of the decision of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs, which came in appreciation of the important role of the Arab Republic of Egypt, to promote joint Arab developmental social work, and guided by its important experience, in this. field, and taking into account that the plan that is the subject of our conference today and tomorrow came as an Egyptian initiative, becoming the first of its kind regionally that deals with the issue of drugs in Arab society from a social perspective, as the focus before this plan was always on the justice, security, and health dimensions, in addition to the main health dimension, with regard to the process of recovery and exit from the stage of addiction.
