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Drug Abuse in the Middle East

A Focus on Syria

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Handbook of Substance Misuse and Addictions

Abstract

Drug abuse is one of the major health problems that impose huge economic and social burdens all over the world leading to disability, mortality, and the need for health care services. The problem of drug abuse is on the rise in different countries of the Middle East including Syria whereby the start of the Syrian war in 2011 was one of the devastating factors for the community. The war caused a spread of fear, anxiety, depression, and accordingly drug abuse. Unfortunately, selling drugs was used to buy weapons to fuel the war. Also, the combatants were new customers for drugs during this conflict. These factors shifted the site of drug production to Syria which also became a producer for new drugs (e.g., Farawla) or counterfeit Captagon tablets. In fact, the published documents do not reflect the exact figures of drug addiction in the Middle East in general and Syria in particular. This chapter highlights the situation of substance abuse in the Middle East with emphasis on Syria according to the available information and provides calls for conducting more researches to cover the gaps in different researches and take preventive measures for drug addiction.

“The right dose differentiates a poison from a remedy”

Paracelsus in the 16th century

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Abbreviations

CNS:

Central nervous system

COVID-19:

Coronavirus disease 2019

DALYs:

Disability-adjusted life years

DSM:

Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

GABA:

Gamma-aminobutyric acid

HIV:

Human immunodeficiency virus

INCB:

International Narcotics Control Board

ISIL:

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant

KSA:

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

STJ:

Syrians for Truth and Justice

UAE:

United Arab Emirates

UNHCR:

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNOCHA:

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

UNODC:

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan

    Husam Abazid

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  1. Husam Abazid
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Correspondence to Husam Abazid .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK

    Vinood B. Patel

  2. School of Life Course and Population Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

    Victor R. Preedy

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Abazid, H. (2022). Drug Abuse in the Middle East. In: Patel, V.B., Preedy, V.R. (eds) Handbook of Substance Misuse and Addictions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92392-1_140

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