THE NUMBER of heroin addicts in Cyprus is increasing by the day, with frequent cases of overdose and four official drug deaths recorded to date, anti-addiction activists warned yesterday.
“It is becoming common for addicts to be taken to hospital after overdosing on heroin,” said Dr. Kyriakos Veresies, scientific director for the Centre for Education about Drugs and Treatment of Drug Addicted Persons (KENTHEA). “The reason is because more people are using and so there are more emergency incidences.”
The number of unofficial drug-related deaths was much higher, he said; but because police only recorded overdoses as drug deaths and did not, for example, register drug users’ suicides when on a trip, the numbers remained low.
Veresies said the problem was that a lot of addicts were not injecting pure heroin. “Dealers rarely sell pure heroin. Instead, only 30 per cent of the drug is actually heroin. The remaining 70 per cent could be anything from powder to traces of coffee, which naturally ends up poisoning them, sometimes leading to death, when it enters their blood system,” he said.
Overdose victims were rushed to hospital for treatment and discharged, he said. They were not committed for detoxification or given compulsory psychological support. Once they received treatment, they were back on the streets to continue abusing, he said.
“I have been trying to highlight this problem for over 10 years,” he said. “In 1991, we (KENTHEA) carried out a study and found that 17 per cent of students were vulnerable to drug addiction. At the time, we tried to implement prevention methods before the problem got out of hand, but it was not publicised enough. Now, instead of fighting for prevention, we’re forced to struggle with treatment methods because the problem is on our very doorstep.”
Drug addiction was a social problem and had developed over the years, he said. Low self-esteem, family problems and living in a material society contributed to the increase in the number of addicts.
“People want easy solutions to their problems and no longer have any real values. They think drugs will be the answer,” said Veresies.
Although the consequences on society as a whole were not yet apparent, they would soon affect us all, he warned. “A large portion of tomorrow’s workforce will not be able to hold down a job because of their addiction. Crime rates will increase as users try to find money to support their habit.”
Police were trying to crack down on the problem, he said, but only managed to seize a few grams of heroin from users at a time. Major suppliers were too slippery to get caught, he said.
“Police are trying to reduce supply, but we – as a society – should be reducing demand. If there is no demand, then there will be no need for supply,” he said.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
