A life of drug and prison

22-02-2019 01:38

Peregraf- Haval Zangana

Dreaming about reaching Europe, he carries all his money and heads towards Turkey. Hozan tried desperately to discover a path to fulfil his dream, however, he had eventually taken a wrong way which was not just his dream, but his whole life turned into a nightmare.

It was exactly 11 years ago. A dark and gloomy history for Hozan. Since then, his only dream has been drugs in order to escape reality and spend some moment unconsciously.

Hozan is an alias for the 32-year-old resident of Kurdistan Region of Iraq; in 2008 after he failed several times to reach Europe, he started using drugs.

“The person who has been selling the drugs to us got arrested and came out with our names to the police, hence we also got arrested with the drugs, although it was just a small amount,” Hozan told Peregraf.

After reaching his home from Turkey, failing to fulfil his dream, Hozan spent all the money he made from work on drugs. 

Drug, also known as “White Terror”, causes tens of Kurdish youth to end up with an unknown destiny every year.

Jalal Amin Beg, Director of the Anti-Narcotics Directorate in Sulaymaniyah Asayish, told Peregraf, during the previous year, 240 people were arrested in Sulaymaniyah for consuming and dealing with drugs while the number in 2017 was 310.

According to him, some of those who had been arrested were working individually and the others were part of a wider group, “They had different types of drugs with them, such as opium, cannabis, and heroin. All the drugs were brought to Kurdistan from surrounding countries; only one drug field had been seized by the security forces.”

The director also states that Turks, Iranians and Arabs were among the detainees besides the Kurds, “There are women among them as well. All of them were accused of trading and using drugs, some of them were sentenced and the others are waiting the court’s decision.”

Hozan’s fate was soon revealed after he had been arrested along with his drug-seller by the security forces.

“I spent four years in prison and it was not that much because we had a small amount of drug. An Iranian who was with us was charged with life sentence and all the members of his group got arrested.”

The terrible consequences of drug users is not just to end up in jail, but they are also isolated from their family and face a lot of social issues in society.

Aras Hiwa, a psychological expert told Peregraf, drugs might give some moment of pleasure, “But it has lots of side effects, since it is addictive, many problems follow.”

Being addicted to drugs is out of the users control as they use only a small amount daily, but they need more and more with the passage of time.

Drug destroys the society and family, the psychologist says, adding “The users are spending lots of time looking for drugs, so they cannot have a normal relation with the family members.”

“After being addicted to the drugs, the users possibly lose their jobs, perhaps looking for other sources to make money such as crime, so the drugs also increase the rate of crime in the society.”

In the town of Chamchamal, drug addicts have increased by 50% in one year, and last year 34 were arrested.

Zmnako Ali, the speaker of the West of Sulaimanyah’s security who also supervises Chamachamal’s cases, told Peregraf “Throughout last year, different types of drugs have been seized, just in one crackdown more than two million of pills had been seized. The drug users are from both genders, from different ages and nationalities.”

The side effects of using drugs are not limited to separation from family members and facing jail, as the ultimate health issues are going to appear sooner or later.

Doctor Halo Ahmad Muhammad, an expert in anesthetic, elaborates different types of drugs, stating that some of them are consumed through the use of needles , such as Heroin which causes inflammation of the veins and finally the loss of the arm. It is also known to be a cause of the heart valve inflammation.

Furthermore, using drugs may cause liver diseases and AIDS since the users use the same needles among themselves several times, according to Doctor Halo.

The doctor also said “The drugs which are taken through inhalation can have detrimental health effects such as the Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and other inflammatory diseases. It also has negative effects on the liver, brain and causes some other serious diseases.”

According to statistics obtained by Peregraf, most drug users in Kurdistan Region are teenagers and young adults, part of them due to lack of awareness of falling into this destructive trap.

Hozan is concerned about the teenagers and youths, hoping that they do not fall into what he has already collapsed into. He advises them to keep away from drugs, at all cost.

Despite the fact that he had once been addicted to drugs and had spent several years in prison, he believed that it is never too late to start over again. Hence he has been engaged and started a new drug-free life.