TODAY.AZ / Politics

Drug addiction crushing blow on gene pool

09 December 2014 [17:42] - TODAY.AZ
/By AzerNews/


By Amina Nazarli

The international conference titled “Protecting the rights of children and women suffering from drug addiction in a family and society” was held in Baku on December 8.
Co-organized by the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs and the Foreign Ministry, the event gathered representatives from the UN office on drugs and crime, European Council, World Health Organization (WHO), as well as specialists from France, U.S., Pakistan, Kazakhstan and other countries.
Addressing the conference, Chairman of the State Committee Hijran Huseynova said that world is facing many people suffering from drug addiction.
She added that about 250 million people around the world are drug addicted, according to the WHO. This problem inflicts a crushing blow on the gene pool.
The Azerbaijani government has improved fight against this terrible issue in accordance with “State program on fighting against illicit trafficking of drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors in 2013-2018”.
As part of the program, the government struggles with drug addiction, human trafficking, early marriage, domestic violence, child labor, selective abortion and other issues. Now all conditions have been created for children and young people to have a healthy lifestyle.
Director of the Republican Drug Rehabilitation Center of the Health Ministry Telman Mammadhasanov stated that women are more prone to drug addiction than men.
“Women can turn into drug addicts even in two month. Moreover, women’s passion for drugs is in 10-15 times stronger than that of men,” he noted.
Vice-speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Bahar Muradova said Azerbaijan is located on the transit route of drugs and that is why its citizens are involved in this process.
Muradova said drug addiction began to spread in the country after it was involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 1988, which began with groundless territorial claims of Armenia.
She stressed that drug dealers often involve children and women in such crimes, as they attract less attention.
“However, sometimes the whole family may get involved in such crimes,” she said. “Thus, families should take a big responsibility.”
Muradova believes that relevant agencies should constantly monitor such families acknowledging that the monitoring only limits the problem.
“Otherwise, Azerbaijan will suffer from drug addicted people more than conflicts. This is a problem, which cannot be prevented by only one measure and program,” the vice-speaker stated.
Deputy National Security Ali Shafiev also noted that drug addiction is a very serious threat to the gene pool adding this issue must concern not only official circles but also the whole society.
He said, among the external factors behind the spreading of drugs in the country are the threats associated with the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijanis territories by Armenia. Armenians violate rules and principles of international law and cultivate narcotic drugs and illicit their trafficking.
“Armenia has turned Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied Azerbaijani territories into an area outside the control of Azerbaijani government and the international community, and created conditions for transnational organized crime there,” he said,
Lack of support for young people by their families and the society is also one of the reasons of drug addiction. As another reason the deputy underlined the low level of legal knowledge.
The Interior Ministry prepaid a proposal presented to the Cabinet of Ministers to test pupils for drugs, said Hazi Aslanov, the Head of Drug Office of the Interior Ministry.
He said that many countries, including Russia have the legislative framework on pupils’ examination on drugs, adding that they make the examination only with parental consent.
Aslanov noted that as part of the fight against drug-related crimes, raids are constantly conducted near schools and in residential areas.
URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/137888.html

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