Mansoor Al-Jamri
Mansoor is the Editor-in-Chief of the independent Bahraini daily newspaper Al-Wasat. He was forced to resign by the government during the 2011 Bahraini uprising on 3 April 2011, but was reinstated back to his position by the Board of Directors on 4 August 2011. He returned from the United Kingdom in December 2001 and founded the Bahraini daily newspaper, Al Wasat, following the introduction of political reforms in Bahrain.Dr. Al-Jamri is also a recipient of the CPJ International Press Freedom Award in 2011 along with three other awardees.
Questions
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Doctors tend not to talk about "recovered drug addicts," and prefer the term "inactive addicts" those who dont use drugs right at given moment. In your opinion, is it not possible to get rid of this label? Even in the opinion of drug treatment experts, patients remain forever addicted. How can the modern society be taught to have an adequate attitude toward former drug addicts and consider them as a part of the society?
This point of view, in my opinion, is absolutely wrong. Perhaps some addicts may be called "inactive" because it is likely that they will use drugs again, but a lot depends on the plans and programs combating drug abuse in the education sector and communications. And I want to say that this is a misconception, and once again I would like to give an example of an experiment «NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS», or known simply as abbreviated NA . Group "Narcotics Anonymous" is not only in Bahrain and the Gulf, but also in the U.S. Program is based 12 steps plan which helps to get rid of addiction. Those who recovered using this program, of course, come back into the community to help prevent the destruction of families and maintain stability by helping drug addicts, sharing with their experience.
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In you opinion how important is parental education and relationships within the family in preventing drug addiction?
People with different social backgrounds ( poor and rich) suffer from drug addiction . All experts agree that family is important in any case. Whenever the family notices destructive behavior, it can warn its members, and control them in their daily lives. Bad company (friends) might influence the individual, but the strength of this influence depends on the awareness of the family about the problem. Relationships are very important. Social and cultural programs informing the public should be carried out in cooperation with teachers, doctors, social workers and religious scholars. Only then we can reach our goal- solving the problem of drug trafficking and drug addiction. However, this problem still exists because currently only government is working on it while the society is not doing much.
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What should be in the Internet age and growth of online communities informational methods to combat drug addiction? What do you think, what means will be most effective today, and how the state should behave in order to successfully affect the suffering of drug addiction and to conduct prevention among healthy population?
Informational methods are different in different societies as well as norms and standards, and the availability of modern communication services. The situation in the U.S. differs from countries in North Africa, for example, in terms of availability of telecommunications services, Internet products and cyberspace. Media in USA is available for both the government and people – both sided can contribute to the fight against drug trafficking and drug addiction. In this case, government needs to pay attention to the establishment of coordination units of observation, monitoring, education, which would raise awareness among civil society and the interaction between people in the fight against drug addiction. The role of civil society is enormous. It is given the opportunity to participate in the programs used in the fight against trafficking and drug abuse, with support of the government, of course.
As for the most effective ways of drug abuse prevent and ways to influence people suffering from drug addiction, not everything depends on the Internet! Anyone who suffers from addiction needs execution of laws and legislation, as well as social, educational and cultural programs with the participation of civil society organizations. The most important aspect is the strengthening of media: radio, television, print media and social networking. In Bahrain, for example, we had 2 experiments. The first - is creation of sports and cultural club Barbar, which implemented and keeps working on programs for drug addicts in cooperation with the charitable organization of scientists and theologians. This initiative has already brought positive results in treatment of drug addicts and raised drug abuse awareness among young people. The second experiment - is the creation of "Narcotics Anonymous". As part of this project, former addicts meet with people still abusing drugs, but who would like to quit doing this. Step by step they follow all the rules to get rid of addiction. These experiments were successful, despite the limited support of the media.
