Rabat – Approximately 600,000 Moroccans are addicted to drugs, with 16,000 addicted to hard drugs like heroin and cocaine, reported Moroccan daily newspaper Assabah based on a study conducted by the Biochemistry and Nutrition and Cellular Biology group in affiliation with Casablanca’s Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy.
300,000 Moroccans are addicted to cigarettes, according to the study, which revealed that the number of the addicted includes also teenagers under the age of 15. Most of them live in the slums and marginalized areas.
Young people aged 18 to 28 are the most addicted to hard drugs, comprising 70 percent of total Moroccans addicted.
The study is a part of the group’s research, which is about the consumption of drugs has become a commonplace.
Scientist members of the group are striving to come up with a national strategy to fight against the effect of drugs in Morocco.
According to the 2015 annual report of the National Observatory of Drugs and Addictions, around four to five fiver of Morocco’s adult population uses drugs, a minimum of 800,000 users.
The report, which also found that one out of five high school students has already smoked tobacco and one out of ten has used cannabis, recommends a nationwide prevention program, laws to ban the selling of tobacco and drugs near schools, and counseling and psychological support units in schools and universities.
The United Nations released a report in mid-2016, showing that the number of people suffering from drug addiction worldwide stands at 29 million.
