Drug addicts now account for 2.4 percent of the Egyptian population, the government’s anti-addiction fund has said, adding that drug abusers stand at 10.4 percent of citizens.
Eighty percent of unjustified crimes, including rape, patricide and matricide, are influenced by drug addiction, said Amr Othman, head of the Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction on Friday.
TV drama series play a negative role in promoting addiction and abuse, according to Othman, who was celebrating the recovery of a group of drug abusers that had been assisted by the fund’s phone counselling service. “81 percent of dramas tackle smoking and drug addiction without focusing on their negative consequences,” he said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
