Khaled Al-Sulaiman Okaz newspaper The Ministry of Health has spent billions of riyals over the past few years to build new hospitals and health centers. These projects, however, do not include any expansion of Al-Amal (Hope) Drug Rehabilitation and Psychiatric Hospitals located throughout the Kingdom. I think this is a serious shortcoming which lays its heavy shadows on the inability of society to treat its drug addicts and psychologically imbalanced members. As our population has increased, so have the number of drug addicts. However, this was not met with a similar increase in the number of drug rehabilitation centers. I expected the ministry to give some attention to this important issue. The successful rehabilitation of drug addicts will save society from a number of social, ethical and security problems. There are a number of families who are living in a great dilemma because they simply do not know how to deal with their drug addict members. These families are unable to go to Al-Amal hospitals as they already suffer from overcrowding. It is hard to believe that addicts who are seeking treatment are only finding closed doors. This means we are giving addicts no option but to return to the streets and drown in a sea of drugs. Simply put, when the matter concerns the treatment of an addict, the answer should not be “come back tomorrow”.
