Pubdate: Tue, 28 Jan 2003
Source: The Daily Star (Lebanon)
Contact:  http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/547
Author: Pascale Kashouh, Special to The Daily Star
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

DRUG USERS TURN TO CENTER TO KICK THE HABIT

Oum Al-Nour Provides Vital Care

Karim, 21, has been sober for 35 days. It is the longest time since his 
17th birthday, when Karim started using drugs almost every day.

"A friend gave me a white, hand-rolled cigarette," Karim recalled. "I 
smoked it alone and that instantly became a daily routine."

Exactly three years later, Karim never got to blow out the candles on his 
birthday cake. All he remembers is that he invited friends over, they took 
drugs and he woke up the next day in intensive care with tubes coming out 
of his body.

Now, after a year in rehabilitation, Karim is full of energy. His body, as 
well as his whole perspective of life "has been cleaned," he says.

Karim's tale is by no means unique. There are hundreds of young Lebanese 
today with similar experiences. According to numbers released by Oum

al-Nour, the first drug rehabilitation clinic in Lebanon, 1,074 people were 
treated by the center in 2001.

The UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) and the 
Institute for Development and Applied Care (IDAC), conducted surveys last 
year which found that 11 percent of Lebanese high school pupils and 22 
percent of college students had tried at least one illegal drug.

Oum al-Nour was founded in 1990 by a group of friends after one of their 
friends died of a drug overdose. Since then it has admitted 697 users into 
its intensive program.

The center started in a tent where the friends used to meet, working to 
protect each other from addiction. Gradually it expanded, as Monseigneur 
Guy Njeim, president of the center, adopted the cause.

The majority of the center's budget comes from donations and fund- raising, 
with an additional 40 percent provided by the ministries of public health 
and social affairs.

Oum al-Nour has a capacity of 70 beds, distributed in three different 
locations in Achkout and Sehaile for men, and Feytroun for women.

"We welcome any drug addict regardless of age, gender, religion, or 
nationality," said Mona Yazigi, general director of Oum al-Nour, stressing 
that the only condition for admission is willingness to get helped.

Over the past decade, the center expanded its activities, compiling a 
library of books and movies, and creating a website to educate the Lebanese 
on how to battle drug abuse.

The wide-spread drug use among the youth created such concern that 2002 was 
declared the year dedicated "to eradicate drugs in Lebanon," by ODCCP and IDAC.

Since its peak in the late 1980's and early 1990's, drug production in 
Lebanon has declined significantly, but not enough, according to Oum 
al-Nour, to prevent addiction. In Lebanon, 40 percent of drug users are 
under 24 years old, the center's research showed.

The most common reasons are boredom, peer pressure, and personal problems 
related to self or family, according to Dr. Touma Khoury, a professor of 
psychology at LAU.

"The minute any drug is introduced to the body, a person may easily be 
hooked to it psychologically," Khoury said.

This doesn't seem to defer most students questioned in an informal survey.

Shirene, a 20-year-old student, smokes hashish to relax. "Drugs make me 
realize - how many ways there are to see the world and use your mind."

But Elias, 22, however, disagrees. He was addicted to heroin and other 
drugs including ecstasy and cocaine for a whole year, until his life 
"started crumbling and almost completely fell apart."

Elias, unlike Karim, chose to kick the habit himself. For those who can't 
handle the battle alone, Oum al-Nour is there.

"I've got a long life ahead of me," Karim said, "and I believe that it's 
better to die than to fade away."

The names of drug users interviewed have been changed
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom