As Drug Abuse Gains Ground and Weakens Young Generations, the Country Calls for National Mobilization
The state, driving this approach, coordinates prevention, awareness, and support, while the school, family, and society as a whole become the first lines of defense against this scourge.
The Press — The Director General of Public Security, Issam Fitouri, announced on Saturday, October 4, that a citizen program to combat drugs, combining repressive response and prevention, is currently being developed.
This program includes strengthening awareness in schools, considered a major lever in the fight. Speaking during the National Day of Awareness for Drug Prevention, organized by the Ministry of Interior at the City of Culture, Fitouri indicated that the ministry is also working on developing an implementation plan for the national strategy to reduce social violence, integrating a renewed approach to the rise in drug consumption.
Key Players in the Fight Against Drug Abuse
The official emphasized that schools and their educational staff play a central role in early detection of drug consumption cases among students. Teachers, monitors, and the entire educational staff must sound the alarm, especially in the absence of sufficient family vigilance. The approach includes:
- Prevention and awareness to sensitize young people and break taboos around consumption
- Intervention by law enforcement and customs services to ensure a repressive response and control of supply networks
- Medical care for consumers, treating addiction as a human and health reality requiring specialized support
- Social reintegration, under the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Affairs, to give those seeking to escape the cycle a place and dignity, ensuring no one is left behind
Collective Mobilization Against Drug Abuse
Beyond institutional action, the fight against drugs requires collective mobilization, where civil society and families must play a determining role. Local associations, cultural structures, sports clubs, or youth centers can become spaces for listening and prevention, recreating lost bonds and offering concrete alternatives to idleness and despair.
The Role of Education in Preventing Drug Abuse
Psychologist Houda Helali, from the Ministry of Education, stressed the need to train educational teams to recognize the clinical and behavioral signs of drug consumption, to quickly direct concerned students towards adapted care. She recalled that school psychologists cover a wide range of situations, including addiction cases, but the lack of staff remains a major obstacle.
National Mobilization Across Several Regions
The national day was held simultaneously in Sousse, Tabarka, and Djerba, bringing together nearly 750 participants, including 650 from the national education sector. This large-scale mobilization illustrates the authorities' willingness to engage the fight against drugs in a collective dynamic, beyond the sole security framework.
Objectives of the National Mobilization
The goal is to raise awareness about the dangers of drugs and psychoactive substances, particularly in schools where young people are a vulnerable population. It also aims to strengthen the capacities of teachers, providing them with the necessary tools to detect early signs of consumption and direct students towards adapted care.
A Multidimensional Approach to Combating Drug Abuse
In the face of increasing consumption, affecting increasingly varied environments and ages, drugs pose a significant public health challenge. Medical and social structures are often overwhelmed, while families struggle to find listening and support. Therefore, during this awareness and information day, officials advocate for a multidimensional approach, combining care, education, and prevention, to put the person at the heart of the system.
The Human Impact of Drug Abuse
Beyond numbers and strategies, drug abuse remains a scourge that worries and frightens. Addictions are hitting young generations hard, those on which Tunisia bases its hopes and builds its future. Each affected student, adolescent, or young adult represents a fragile promise, a potential in danger. The fight against drugs is not only a health or educational battle; it is also a matter of national security.
