Pubdate: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 Source: New Anatolian, The (Turkey) Copyright: 2006 The New Anatolian Website: http://www.thenewanatolian.com Contact: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4352 Author: Ilnur Cevik RISE IN DRUG USE SHOWS GROWING SOCIAL PROBLEMS Revelations at a parliamentary commission charged with investigating rising crime among youths has shown there is an alarming increase in drug addiction in Turkey A Green Crescent report submitted to the commission shows that in the past three years heroin addiction has risen by 100 percent and use of ecstasy has increased 300 percent. These are shocking revelations that show the sorrowful state of affairs where moral values are being systematically destroyed in Turkey in the name of fighting religious fundamentalism Turkey has 20 million young people, which means we are a youthful country. This can be a great advantage for Turkey if the youth can be molded in the right manner. But if we cannot teach our children the moral values that have made our nation very rich in the past we will be facing a losing battle. Let us be very frank. Many things done under the pretext of fighting religious fundamentalism have ruined our education system and opened up our youth to drug abuse and other crimes. Experts agree today that merging primary schools and secondary schools under one roof and forcing young children to live together with older kids was a great mistake. Our schools are full of examples of older children bullying and even sexually assaulting younger ones. But this was done all in the name of shutting down secondary schools where religious education was given. Because these schools could not have primary schools they were closed. The military, which staged a postmodern coup in 1997, felt the move was needed to end the influence of these schools and thus prevent religious fundamentalism. Such schools were not hubs of fundamentalism. They were places where children were given moral education besides learning science and literature. What is sad is that with the closing of these schools other forms of religious education were also targeted. So we have been forced to raise a new generation that lacks moral education. So this has also contributed to the decadence of our society and the spread of drug abuse. Besides all this we see with great sadness that drug pushers are hard at work around our schools and it is shocking that no one really prevents them. There are even claims that these drug pushers receive help from some of those who should be locking them up. It is now up to our authorities as well as the families to eradicate the conditions that make drug abuse so easy. Families have to carefully monitor their children and prevent their children from falling into the hands of drug sellers. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek