PUERTA DE ORIENTE Between war and poverty, more and more Syrians turn to drugs and psychotropic drugs

The story of a Ghouta family, from the suffering of the conflict to the desperation caused by hunger. The population suffers from a “collective depression” to which it responds with an increasing use (and abuse) of medicines. By some estimates, 70% of drugs sold last year were psychotropics. A demand that feeds the black market.

Milan () – “When I met Haifa a few years ago, when the war was at its most critical, I had in front of me a woman from Ghouta [suburbio oriental de Damasco, n.d.] with a big smile on his face, despite the horrors and suffering he had lived through. At that moment she impressed me, to the point that it seemed to me that she was the symbol of many Syrian women, because of her strength, resilience and hope. I saw her again a month ago, and it gave me a terrible impression to see in her eyes the concern and the state of exhaustion in which she was, beyond mere physical exhaustion ”. The one who talks to is Maria Sargi [nombre ficticio para proteger su identidad, ed.], a civil servant who since the first days of the Syrian conflict has been active in the field of diplomacy and international activism. Haifa has three children, and in recent months the family has lived on just one loaf of bread a day. “What do diseases matter, compared to hunger? Where is the logic of what is happening, in the face of hunger? What is the meaning of life when your children are hungry? We are hungry!”.

We’ve hit rock bottom

The Syrian people have suffered greatly in the years when the conflict raged in the country, when jihadist militias controlled much of the territory and the entire system that had governed the nation seemed on the verge of collapse. Today the weapons claim fewer victims but the noise of the artillery has been replaced by the bomb of poverty, no less dramatic and deadly, which has pushed a large part of the population to the brink of depression. So much so that at the moment sedatives, tranquilizers and psychoactive drugs are among the best-selling drugs, in an attempt to contain the increasingly frequent cases of mental illnesses or disorders in ordinary people.

“At the end of her testimony – our source continues – Haifa began to cry hysterically, repeating at the top of her voice that she had hit rock bottom.” And that is the impression one gets when looking at the country and its people, who seem to have gone back in time thousands of years, almost to the stone age, when the only purpose was to get enough food for that day and stay alive. … “to survive!”. In short, this is what has happened to the Syrians who, after having spent long years of war and having hoped for a better future, now “live in a collective state of frustration and disillusionment. From the violence of an external conflict – the source concludes – we have passed into inner despair”.

a collective depression

One of the consequences of this “collective depression” is that millions of Syrians increasingly resort to psychotropic drugs and medications to combat disorders and to be able to endure a situation that is becoming unsustainable. Even without official data, and only based on personal and daily experience, many pharmacists from Damascus and Aleppo interviewed by confirm that the sales figure is “very high”, without a doubt “higher” than in any other period. of the recent history of the country. The situation experienced by citizens is also weighed down by the growing estrangement from the international community which, after having maintained interest in and pressure on Syria for a long time, has now shifted the focus of attention elsewhere, especially to Ukraine, where Russia itself, fundamental to the fate of the conflict, today concentrates a large part of its military resources. That is why many Syrians are calling for at least “the lifting of Western sanctions”, to bring some relief to the local economy and reverse a scenario in which a few “are getting richer and richer from the war, and the ordinary citizen is getting poorer, depressed and desperate”.

The feeling of misery, abandonment and anxiety about the future pushes an increasing number of people – at least in government-controlled areas, where there is more data – to resort to tranquilizers and sedatives. Wafaa Keshi, who heads the Syrian pharmacists’ union, sounds the alarm, explaining that the use (and abuse) of narcotics and psychotropics is becoming more frequent due to the parallel increase in mental disorders. Among those most affected by depression and malaise are war veterans and survivors with permanent disabilities, who would need – in addition to pharmacological treatment – therapeutic treatment and psychological support under constant medical supervision.

the black market

According to some estimates, 70% of the drugs that were sold last year belonged to the category of psychotropics, to which people resort to “escape” from a reality marked by the high cost of living, insufficient salaries and lack of medical care and education. Given the great demand for psychotropic drugs and tranquilizers, there are more and more pharmacies that sell products even without a prescription; at the same time, a parallel circuit to the official one was formed, increasingly flourishing. Ahmad Shams al-Din, a pharmacist from Jaramana (Rif Dimashq Governorate), told al-Monitor that Syrians “discover new narcotics every day,” which are widely available on the black market. Among them is a local compound called Cemo, a green cough syrup containing a large dose of codeine, as well as the heroin-based Baltan, which is often used, inappropriately and without medical supervision, to treat psychosomatic disorders or for drug addicts with withdrawal crises.

Qais Khazal, a neuropsychiatrist, confirms that tranquilizers have become very common among university students, most of whom take Baltan before an exam because they believe it helps them concentrate. Alia Zuhair, a student from Damascus, says that she started with half a pill a day, but after six months she takes three every six hours. She “she also took other narcotics -she adds- such as the green cough syrup Cemo and the painkiller Proxamol”. Bashar Hekmat, a grocery store owner in the capital, will offer three times the price of pills if a pharmacist refuses to sell them without a prescription. Otherwise, he resorts to the black market where the traffickers are more and more numerous.

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