Substance use among Egyptians records 10.4%

CAIRO - 12 March 2019: Substance use among the Egyptian population has recorded 10.4 percent classified into trials, intermittent and continuous use, which has given rise to social issues, moral deviations, and different forms of violence.

Head of Preventive Programs at the Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction Ibrahim Askar revealed the aforementioned data in a TV program aired on Al Hayat channel.

Askar explained that 79 percent of crimes committed were driven by substance use. He added that the minimum age of substance use has plummeted to 9-10 years old.

On a positive note, the percentage of substance use among truck drivers decreased from 24 percent in 2015 to 12 percent last year.

Chairperson of the National Council for Combating and Treating Addiction (NCCTA) Inas al-Gaafarawy clarified that some of the narcotics used contain artificial substances which makes them more harmful to the health than natural narcotics.

Gaafarawy added that hash is the easiest narcotic that can be detected in tests, and that addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder that affects the brain.