The Anti-Narcotics Department Director Brig. Anwar Tarawneh confirmed that increase in drug abuse amounted to 32% last year, saying that 47% of the users were between the ages of 18 and 22 years.

Tarawneh said during a committee meeting on Sunday that there are great efforts from governmental institutions and local authorities to provide awareness programs for citizens on the dangers of drug use, especially the industrial hashish "Joker".

He pointing out that Jordan is one of the few countries that offer in their centers the service of treatment and rehabilitation of addicts.

The head of Youth and Sports parliamentary committee, MP Mohammad Hudaib, stressed on the necessity of concerted efforts through a genuine partnership between the government, MPs and civil society institutions to stop the spread of this scourge and fight it by all means.

For his part, Ayman Al-Awaysheh, head of correction and rehabilitation centers in Jordan, said that the number of detainees in correction and rehabilitation centers during the past year reached 485.

Al-Awaysheh pointed out that the Berain correction and rehabilitation center of is one of the centers specializing in drug abuse issues, providing a range of sports programs and activities, specialized awareness programs, religious lectures and lectures with psychological and educational guidance to address addiction, through the programs ‘Musanada’ and ‘Tahween’.

Last week the Department of Drug Control at the Public Security Directorate (PSD) destroyed quantities of narcotic substances seized in 1621 cases.