Arab League stresses importance of raising awareness of the dangers of drugs and warning of their harmful effects

Today, the League of Arab States stressed the need to raise awareness of the dangers of drugs and warned of the negative health, social, economic and security consequences of drug use.
In a statement issued on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which is celebrated on 26 June each year, Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States and Head of the Social Affairs Department Haifa Abu-Ghazaleh stressed the need for awareness-raising and educational programmes and various media to spread healthy knowledge about the dangers of drugs to all sectors of society in order to create a drug-free environment.
She also stressed the importance of Member States collecting and analysing data to monitor trends in the drug sector, noting that the challenges affecting the Arab region, although diverse, include conflicts and their side effects, humanitarian crises and the impact of climate change, which in turn influence the increase in drug rates.
The Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States noted that the League’s General Secretariat is working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to implement the Regional Action Framework for Arab States (2023-2028) in the field of a balanced approach to combating drugs.
She explained that there is already cooperation between the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and the General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Ministers of the Interior in the field of combating drugs, noting that the two sides will organize a second joint meeting to discuss many topics related to supporting the health of Arab citizens, including the Arab strategy to combat illicit drug use.
Significantly, the United Nations has announced that this year’s celebration of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking will be under the slogan “The evidence is clear: let’s invest in prevention”, as the global drug problem is a multifaceted challenge that affects the lives of millions of people around the world who suffer from substance abuse disorders and communities struggling to cope with the consequences of drug trafficking and organized crime.