RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's rate of drug abuse among citizens is one of the lowest in the world, said Mufarrij Bin Sa'ad Al-Haqbani, Secretary General of National Anti-Narcotics Committee. The organization is working on a number of strategies to protect people from drugs, in accordance with directives of Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior. The group evaluates and develops security work to prevent the spread of drugs and eliminate drug dealing, in addition to evaluating and developing educational and practical programs to protect people from drug abuse, he said. The goal of these programs is to reach homes and schools and educate different segments of society about the dangers of drugs, as well as addiction's hazards, which affect health, behavior and the stability of families and individuals, he added. The group is also developing several new programs for youths and evaluating and improving addicts' behavioral, medical and social treatment programs, Al-Haqbani said. “Based on international research, every riyal spent on countering narcotics saves 10 riyals, which is encouraging for all societies to allocate higher budgets to address drug abuse and exert more efforts to do so,” he said. Curative programs have also been developed, based on the improvements in such programs in a number of countries, which has made them more efficient, he said. The reduced rate of drug abuse in the Kingdom shows the Saudi society's ability to counter and curb drug abuse, which is an incentive to exert more efforts reduce it even more, Al-Haqbani said. In addition to Saudi society's awareness and efforts to address the problem, the reduced rate of drug abuse has also been achieved through increased work by the Customs Department and Border Guards to keep drugs from being smuggled into the country, he noted.
