A new centre is being set up in Bahrain to combat drug addiction, particularly among schoolchildren, by the Interior Ministry to help rehabilitate addicts rather than prosecute them.

The centre, to be built in Sanad, use the latest treatment methods for addicts and provide them with all kinds of assistance, said ministry anti-narcotics directorate head Major Mubarak bin Huwail.

'Construction is expected to begin by the end of the year and will be completed in about a year,' he said.

It is being set up with an as yet unspecified budget, but Maj Bin Huwail said it would be a 'huge investment'.

'We know that there are hundreds of secondary schoolchildren who could be hooked on to drugs of various forms and we are ready to help them in whatever way we can,' he said.

Maj Bin Huwail said most drug addicts were treated as patients rather than criminals.

'This is because they must always be given a chance to reform and give up their addiction,' he added.

But users who repeatedly re-offend find themselves facing a tougher side of the law.

'We have to draw a very thin line between patients and criminals and that is a tough call,' he said.

The plan was formally announced by Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa as he recently launched Bahrain's International Anti-Drugs Day celebrations.

Land for the project had already been allocated, he told a meeting of the National Anti-Narcotics Committee.

'It is being designed in such a way that it will not only offer world class facilities, but would also provide patients with the required privacy,” he said. – TradeArabia News Service