Clinton: Increase in deaths of drug users following the suspension of Corona rehabilitation programs

Dr. McKenzie: Faith and science can make miracles and save human beings.

The Center for Responsible Leadership, the Bill Clinton Foundation and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health held an international seminar for religious and scientific symbols to discuss ways to combat drugs, with the participation of His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, former US President Bill Clinton and Dr. Eileen McKenzie.

Chairman of the Center’s Board of Directors, Dr. Al-Issa, said: The first goal of religious and community leaders and specialized scientific centers is to launch motivational initiatives to keep individuals away from addiction and bring them towards treatment.

While the President of the Clinton Foundation, President Bill Clinton, indicated that the death rate among drug users last year reached 10 people per hour.

As for the Dean of the College, Dr. Ellen McKenzie, she said: Addiction poses a great danger to society and requires urgent steps to be taken to address it.

In his speech during the seminar, His Excellency Dr. Al-Issa stressed the need to contain and assist addicts, and stressed the important role played by followers of religions in spreading awareness of the danger and seriousness of this devastating scourge.

His Excellency points out that religious values are spiritual and motivating and urges everyone to help others. Especially those who are weak and addicted to drugs, He also called for an open dialogue on drugs and the catastrophic and deadly risks of abuse. As long as this dialogue is not based on anger and inferiority, it is important to focus on education and community education in all its disciplines.

His Excellency indicated that linking abuse with shame and failure further complicates the problem, indicating that the care of those involved in that scourge is the correct behavior that everyone must adhere to, Stressing the importance of giving reassuring messages to addicts that motivate them to voluntarily seek help with care and treatment.

His Excellency added that drug addiction carries multiple dangers to individuals and societies and is considered one of the most powerful weapons that target countries in their present and future, indicating that the causes of drug abuse are specific, and therefore it is the duty of the competent national, governmental and international authorities to work to avoid those causes.

For his part, former US President Bill Clinton said that the high death rates resulting from abuse during the Covid-19 pandemic require religious and scientific leaders to act decisively and launch initiatives that would end this crisis, and he pointed out that the quarantine and curfews resulting from Corona led to the interruption of drug addicts about their rehabilitation programs,

Which made many of them to experience psychological regression and return to abuse at the same pace as before and sometimes even higher. The former US president indicated that the death rate among drug addicts last year reached 10 people per hour, He stressed the need for concerted efforts to win over addiction, save lives and remove the intractable stigma associated with drug abuse so that those involved in rehabilitation programs could receive the assistance they needed.

The Dean of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr. Ellen McKenzie, said that addiction affects all communities. And The challenge facing the world today is great and serious Emphasizing the need for religious and scientific symbols to work together for a better, drug-free tomorrow.

Dr. McKenzie noted that there are many actions that can be taken to reduce the number of deaths from abuse and the likelihood of addiction.

Expressing its respect for religious leaders who have a positive impact on people and who contribute to immunizing them from drug abuse, stressing that faith and knowledge can work miracles if there is will and courage to eliminate drug addiction.

The participation of the Centre for Responsible Leadership in the seminar comes as an institution for meeting the challenges facing the world.

And that is through exploring the opinions of intellectual leaders about the best ways to overcome the obstacles that people are going through in this era.

The Center’s efforts culminated in the inauguration of the 2019 United Nations Responsible Leaders Summit, at which time the various leaderships of various specializations met, especially religious, intellectual, educational, social, charitable and media, to work on finding realistic solutions to face the risks afflicting human societies.