More than 900 addicted children between the ages of 7 and 18 were placed in juvenile correctional facilities across the Kingdom last year, Awatif Al-Diraibi, a social researcher at the Anti-Narcotics General Directorate, informed a workshop on drugs, Saturday. Dubbed ‘Keep Our Children Away from Drugs,' the workshop organized by the Women's Division at the Anti-Narcotics General Directorate and the Student Guidance Division at Riyadh's General Education Administration Riyadh continued its activities for the second day at Prince Salman Social Center Sunday in Riyadh. At least 70 participants took part in the workshop. Addicted children are either reported by their families or caught red-handed by authorities, Diraibi said. They are usually referred to court, she added. Last year, courts across the Kingdom sentenced 717 juveniles to correctional facilities. The Ministry of Social Affairs said it had 18 juvenile correctional facilities, 14 for boys and four for girls. National Human Rights Association (NHRA) has many times asked for lesser punishment of children involved in drugs cases, Diraibi said. Teens are the most susceptible to drugs, said sociologist Fawzia Al-Bikr of King Saud University. The causes for juvenile drug addiction are categorized as negligence of family, bad friends, unemployment, and inappropriate and influential media with shows contradicting the traditional values of society, Diraibi said. Another important message for parents is to know your children's friends. About 95 percent of addicts in Al-Amal Hospital in Dammam confessed that their first time to experience drugs was with a friend. Inhaling the composition of benzene, glue, fresh paint and nail polish, liquid eraser has become a common practice among young girls, providing them with a shortcut to addiction, she said. Researchers are in a quandary. There is no law against sale of these materials. She recounted a story of a young boy who died of inhaling benzene. When he was brought to hospital, he was found suffocated, prompting the hospital to ask for the permission of the family to carry out autopsy, she said. But the mother refused saying that her son died of consuming too much soft drinks, she added. “The unsuspecting mother didn't know that the empty cans in her son's room were only a cover up. He brought benzene home in soft drink cans to inhale it,” she said. Inhalation of the fumes has an immediate exhilarating effect. The user becomes giddy. But one strong dose could be fatal. The only course is the process of education, she proposed. In collaboration with the Ministry of Interior, new courses will be introduced in public schools in 2009 to raise the awareness of schoolchildren of devastating effects of drugs, said Diraibi. She displayed a documentary about the journey of death of an addict who killed his father. With statistical figures from the US, Dr. Al-Bikr said that a recent Harvard study found that 36 percent of high school students and 15 percent of intermediate school students in the US smoke marijuana. On Sunday, Sahar Attiya presented a paper about the characteristics of a good educator as displaying a good example to students. “More than 700,000 students drop out of school in the US and 4 million students are reported to take drugs,” she said. The addiction problem is slowly sweeping in women. About 3 percent of the addicts in the Kingdom are women according to official information, said Hind Thumaiari. The best method to prevent drug use is by keeping the communication lines open between children and parents and social workers, said Bikr. However, the biggest problem is with Captigon, which is used by the majority of school and university addicted students with the impression that it would help them stay up at night and study. __
