Interior Minister: Syria free of drug production or planting

Syria, by the recognition of the international community, is considered as a country free of the drugs’ planting or production, it is not more than a crossing country among the states of production and markets.

This made the Syrian authorities take a number of measures to combat this phenomenon through law No.2 for 1993 on combating drugs which tightened the penalties to reach execution regarding the trafficking and smuggling of drugs.

Interior Minister Mohammad al-Shaar stressed that Syria is committed to fighting the plague of drugs and its full cooperation with the international efforts to ease the suffering of societies and fortify the Syrian society.

“Syria has joined all international treaties related to combating drugs which pose a threat to all humanity and leave healthy, social and economic damages which rot the entity of individuals,” the Minister said at a national symposium held on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking which comes on June 26th.

“The addiction affects the competency of all body organs, it is a case resulting by the use of anesthetics continuously as the human being depends on them psychologically and bodily to take doubled doses with the passing of time,” General Khaled al-Khudr, Director of the anti-drugs department at the Interior Ministry said .

He pointed out to the negative economic impacts of the addiction and production of drugs represented by the weakness of production at the work market, the human being’s lack of role in society and dependence on the others to spend money.

“We are not suffering a lot in Syria of the problem of addiction as the average of dealers here won’t exceed 134 person per one million in light of the social, moral and cultural deterrent which prevents the Syrians from spreading this phenomenon,” General Khudr added.

He added that during 2012, the Department of Anti-Drugs confiscated 139 kg of cannabis, 27.5 kg of heroin and 65 kg of cocaine.