Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: Awareness campaigns and an increase in educational programmes on the ill effects of drugs, conducted in schools across the Sultanate by the Royal Oman Police (ROP) have led to a significant decline in drug abuse cases among students in recent years.
According to ROP, there is no cause of concern over drug abuse, thanks to intensive nationwide awareness campaigns that are being conducted in schools.
Major Sulaiman Al Tamtami, the head of the Legal Department at the Directorate General of Combating Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, said in this context: “The ROP has exerted great efforts in protecting schoolchildren from the menace of drugs. There is no cause of concern as there are reports of very few cases of drug abuse among school students at Omani schools. One of the main reasons behind school students resorting to the scourge of drugs is that one parent or a family member of the child is a drug user themselves, which has an impact on children.”
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Al Tamimi made these comments when he was hosted by the weekly ROP radio show, Al Ayn Al Sahira. Al Tamtami said that repeated awareness programmes across schools conducted by ROP and the Ministry of Education have led to decline in the number of drug users in schools. The police have run 48 awareness programmes in as many schools in the Muscat Governorate during the first semester alone this year, and 27 programmes in South Batinah.
“There is a widely positive response from students and they will get to know more about the perils of drugs,” he said, and called upon parents to look after their children by giving them proper attention.
In addition to this, Maimunah Al Mandhari, the assistant director of the Office of Undersecretary of Education, said: “Several educational programmes are carried out at Omani schools, which have contributed in bringing down the number of cases of drug abuse among students.”
Maimunah Al Mandhari added, “Fawasil, one of these programmes, which is targeted towards students up to the age of 12, aims to empower and protect them from dangerous behaviour.”
According to her, the programme is carried out in six governorates, including Muscat, North and South Batinah, Dakhilyah, Buraimi and Dhahirah. As a result of this, fewer arrests were made in 2017 due to a drop in drug-related crimes, according to ROP figures.
The number of drug crimes, and those arrested for possession and abuse of drugs, and the quantities of drugs confiscated have all declined, according to police statistics. The ROP has gone to great lengths to shut down operations of drug smugglers and cartels attempting to operate within the Sultanate, officials say.
The number of offenders arrested in 2017 stood at 3,297, down from 3,590 in 2016, an ROP official said. In addition to this, the number of drug cases stood at 2,231 in 2017, compared to 2,538 in 2016. Moreover, the amount of drugs confiscated by ROP stood at 2.2 tonnes in 2017, compared to almost 2.5 tonnes in 2016.
“The drug menace is a global concern, which relies heavily on demand and supply. Oman is distinguished by its strategic location and is a transit point for drug trafficking, because of the location of Oman on the Arabian Sea, Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean, as well as its proximity to areas where drugs are manufactured and shipped,” a Royal Oman Police official said.
“We are sparing no effort to work with other agencies to protect the community from the drug menace because of its debilitating effects on society, especially when it affects younger people.”
