Drugs and their dangers…a scientific symposium at the Faculty of Medicine at Damascus University
The symposium included a set of lectures focusing on the role of social and educational institutions in confronting addiction, anti-drug policy in Syria, classification of drugs, addiction and forensic medicine, factors directed towards addiction, its symptoms and treatment, psychotherapeutic interventions for drug addiction, and the role of the Student Union in raising awareness about it.
Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Bassam Ibrahim, stated that the importance of the symposium is to shed light on the dangers of drugs in various fields, noting that the ministry is working on holding seminars and scientific events according to a timetable in cooperation with the National Union of Syrian Students.
Minister of Education Dr. Darem Tabbaa explained that the ministry is making all efforts to raise awareness and protect against the negative effects of drugs on the young generation.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Syrian-Russian Cooperation Foundation Fadi Al-Issani stressed the importance of the seminars in spreading health and societal awareness of the dangers of drugs, especially after the terrorist war that Syria was exposed to.
In turn, the director of the Russian Cultural Center in Damascus, Nikolai Sukhov, indicated that cooperation between Syria and Russia is important for combating drugs, which is carried out in several areas, including the treatment of addicts and the promotion of awareness.
Director of the Medical Services Department at the Ministry of Interior, Major General Doctor Michael Farah, gave a lecture focused on introducing the Syrian anti-drug policy, in which he explained that the work is carried out through two aspects. The first is the strategy of combating supply through operational control and seizures, and Drugs Law No. 2 of 1993, and the second is to reduce demand through awareness, treatment and rehabilitation.
It is noteworthy that Syria has ratified all international conventions related to drug control, starting with the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol to the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988.
NR