Drug test call for motorists

CYPRUS should immediately import ‘narcotests’, according to Justice Minister Doros Theodorou, since four of the six indirect deaths from narcotics in 2005 resulted from heroin-related car crashes.

Speaking at a news conference put on by the Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Theodorou said that with the introduction of the narcotest, the Justice Ministry would be able to prevent more drug-related deaths.

Narcotests are fairly simple tests used to identify commonly encountered drugs.

Deputy chief of the Drug Squad Haritos Yiangou said at the conference that the percentage of drug users in Cyprus has been increasing, especially among the young, who are increasingly trying drugs at a younger age.

“Meanwhile there is an increase in the numbers of arrests… and in the availability of synthetic drugs like ecstasy, as well as an increase in the need for therapy,” Yiangou said, adding that “drug use expands from urban centres to the outskirts”.

Yiangou said the recent deaths in narcotics indicate that there has been a shift from smoking heroin to intravenous use, and added that the opening of the crossings has only intensified the drug problem in the Cyprus Republic.

“The travel via the crossings to and from the occupied areas that began in April 23, 2003 seems to have contributed considerably to the flow of drugs from the occupied areas to the free areas, thereby changing the face of the problem.”

According to figures presented at the conference, during 2005 the police reported a total of 612 drug cases, which include 43 cases of drug smuggling, 134 cases of possession, 251 cases of possession and use, 14 of drug cultivation, 102 cases of possession and supply, and 49 cases of possession with the plan to supply.

In 2005, 740 people were arrested, 517 of which were Cypriots and 223 foreigners. In the same year, there was a significant increase in the number of people arrested between the ages of 15 and 19, although most arrests involved individuals between 20 and 29.

In 2005 there were eight direct deaths and six indirect directs, while so far in 2006 there have been two deaths reported, although the State Laboratory has not yet released its final findings.

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.