Egypt’s silent crisis: Child drug addiction

Medical experts say the tendency to rush towards risky behaviours is a significant factor in drug addiction among children and teenagers. It begins with habits like smoking cigarettes and shisha before transitioning to more dangerous substances like hashish, alcohol, narcotics, and synthetic drugs.

Currently, the most popular synthetic drugs among school-aged children include Voodoo, Astrox, and Tramadol, a potent painkiller. Hammad says these drugs appeal to young people because they are cheap, produce a sense of euphoria, and are often undetectable in standard drug tests.

Hammad says children and young adults who use these drugs often exhibit impulsive behaviours, start failing academically, become sexually active earlier, and get drawn to dangerous situations. They also come up with defensive strategies and fabricate stories to conceal signs of their addiction.

According to the FCTAA data, these synthetic drugs account for 16% of drug abuse cases in children and young adults. Heroin accounts for almost 44%, while cannabis accounts for almost 36%.

Early-age drug and opiate addiction in children and adolescents disrupts brain development, leading to a thinner cerebral cortex. This alters the brain structure and impairs its functioning, resulting in a decline in educational performance and achievement, an increased inclination towards risk, unpredictable emotional responses (such as excessive crying or laughing), and symptoms of depression.

Prevention and treatment

It highlights the critical need for prevention and early intervention to mitigate the long-term effects of drug addiction on children. The Egyptian government and the FCTAA say their addiction treatment hotlines operate "with complete secrecy," offering free and confidential advice, information on drugs, crisis counselling for users and their families, and referrals to specialised treatment centres.

The problem is exacerbated because children and young adults are often unaware of the dangers of drug addiction because this is not taught in schools, making them vulnerable. Another issue is the late detection of addiction in children and young adults, meaning delayed treatment and potentially long-term consequences.

To rectify the situation, the Egyptian government and the FCTAA are launching campaigns in schools to raise awareness of the dangers of addiction, explaining how drug use is linked to crime and accidents. This is through school visits with visual content, social media campaigns, theatrical performances and interactive presentations, and training youth cadres and student volunteers.

The government says these campaigns have engaged 40,000 students in universities in Cairo, Helwan, Sohag, Zagazig, and the South Valley, while training has been given to 4,000 Egyptian social workers who visit schools, so they can more easily spot signs of substance abuse. The FCTAA campaign aims to develop the first Arab plan to reduce drug demand, working with the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs.

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, significant quantities of heroin and tramadol were seized in 2022 by Egyptian authorities. Other African countries like Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Algeria also reported seizures of heroin. The 2023 World Drug Report revealed that Africa accounted for half of the global seizures of opioids from 2017-21, with tramadol, a synthetic opioid not subject to international control, chief among them. This poses a significant threat to the continent.

Signs and impact

Psychological and behavioural treatment for child and adolescent drug addiction is tailored to the individual's condition and behaviour changes. Hammad says these changes often manifest early and should serve as crucial indicators for families.

As drug abuse takes hold, children and young adults can withdraw from family activities, become more impulsive, fabricate stories to obtain money for drugs (such as requesting funds for school), become aggressive, lose motivation, grow indifferent to their academic performance, skip school, rebel, and steal items from the home.

Hammad says drug abuse can have severe consequences, including depression, risk-taking, and early pregnancies. Recognising these signs early is critical for timely intervention and effective treatment. Modern preventive programmes aim to educate children as young as six or seven, building their psychological resilience at this stage.

If a family discovers a child's drug addiction, doctors can assess the case and determine the appropriate treatment protocol. This can include giving the child the knowledge and skills to be able to resist drug use. Treatments, including behavioural therapy, can be given in hospital or at home—whichever setting is best.

Hammad advises against treating child addicts with older addicts, emphasising the importance of age-appropriate treatment environments, particularly for Under-18s, to prevent relapse and potential escalation to stronger narcotics.

The first step when a user calls the hotline is to set up an interview with a psychologist. They then conduct a series of tests and assessments, prepare a report, determine the appropriate treatment, and refer the user to a hospital specialising in addiction treatment for young people.

Targeted campaigns

It is known that poverty rates and lack of awareness significantly affect teenagers' susceptibility to drug addiction, so since 2021, more than 1,000 villages across Egypt have been targeted with awareness-raising initiatives as part of the 'Village Without Addiction' campaign, which uses seminars, workshops for children and young adults, and door-to-door campaigns for residents.

The campaign also addressed drug abuse among school bus drivers, identified at around 12% in 2017 by the Egyptian government, as part of a wider move to create drug-free school environments. School curricula have also been updated to include the latest developments in drug issues.

These updates aim to build young people's ability to avoid drug use and drug abuse and, therefore, avoid the damage to their health and education that it often causes. This is a long-term strategy, so the results will only be visible over the next few years. Egypt has its fair share of problems at the moment. Child drug addiction is rightly a priority among them.