6 million drug addicts in Egypt: study

[Lunar Loops]

Hardly seems like an accurate figure to SWIS as it seems like they have equated any drug use as being an addiction. It should be noted that the article was accompanied by a sensationalist picture of stacks of seized heroin parcels.

Anyway, this from AFP.google.com:
6 million drug addicts in Egypt: study

CAIRO (AFP) — At least 8.5 percent of Egypt's population, amounting to six million people, are addicted to drugs, an official survey published on Wednesday showed.

A recent study published by Egypt's National Council for Fighting and Treating Addiction (NCFTA) reported the majority of drug users are aged between 15 and 25, NCFTA member Suheir Lutfi told the English-language Al-Ahram Weekly.
Bango, a type of marijuana found in the Middle East, is the drug of choice, but cocaine, heroin and chemical drugs like ecstasy and methamphetamine are also widely available on the local market, the study found.
About 439,000 children are regular drug users in Egypt, a major producer, supplier and consumer of narcotics.
Of the 12.2 percent of Egypt's students dependent on drugs, nine percent smoke Bango, three percent prefer hashish and 0.21 percent take heroin or chemical drugs, NCFTA said.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Egypt's location makes it a transit point for drug trafficking from major production areas in South East Asia and Europe.
Bango is widely used in the Sinai peninsula and has also been reported in southern Egypt, according to UNODC.

[meep]

Swim knew a very nice guy from Libya, he was a massive smoker of weed. He would tell storys of dealers comming to his house with 10-15 different types of hash and weed and paying next to nothing for it.

When I asked why he smokes but not drinks he put forward the suggestion that the Qur'an (spelling?) quotes something about gambling and drinking as sins becuase one cannot focus on his prayers. A good muslim would abstain from any drugs as his mind state would change but my friend addmited that allthough a commited muslim he wasn't a perfect muslim and would only refuse alcohol as it was an explicit no no and illegal.

Yes, Alcohol is illegal. Swims not too sure about Egypt though. This in its self speaks volumes. People need to change their mind states and will use what ever is widely available!

[Benga]

Alcohol isn't illegal in Egypt ( Stella beer, hum...)
Also, from what swim remembers, the alcohol quote isn't actually in the Qur'an but in the collected Hadith, the "sayings" of Muhammad ( same goes for the veil and other notions). would have to check though...

swim has a "little green book" that circulated for laughs in the Beirut of the 80's, it's a collection of Ayatollah Khomeini's sayings. Though this was not it's primary intention, the book is very funny in some parts, especially on sexual specifics (as in specific purity graduations for anal sex etc). But opium and hashish are decreted "pure". although this does not seem to have had a lot of impact on iranian laws...

b

[spainya]

Originally Posted by Benga

Alcohol isn't illegal in Egypt ( Stella beer, hum...)
Also, from what swim remembers, the alcohol quote isn't actually in the Qur'an but in the collected Hadith, the "sayings" of Muhammad ( same goes for the veil and other notions). would have to check though...

swim has a "little green book" that circulated for laughs in the Beirut of the 80's, it's a collection of Ayatollah Khomeini's sayings. Though this was not it's primary intention, the book is very funny in some parts, especially on sexual specifics (as in specific purity graduations for anal sex etc). But opium and hashish are decreted "pure". although this does not seem to have had a lot of impact on iranian laws...

b

According to ISLAM & Holy Qur'an, drinking Alcohol is prohibited and who drinks Alcohol are committing SIN

The Holy Quran, 2.219: They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit." They ask thee how much they are to spend; Say: "What is beyond your needs." Thus doth Allah Make clear to you His Signs: In order that ye may consider.


The Holy Quran, 5.90: O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.
The Holy Quran, 5.91: Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?

According to the BIBLE, it is fine to drink but becoming drunk is a sin, Christ once did a miracle by making water into wine. So obviously he was OK with alcohol...

[meep]

Thanks for clearing that up, swim was vague around where the quote came from.