Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: MIDEAST:  Lest We Don't Forget

Qualcuno sa dare una motivazione razionalmente comprensibile e 
umanamente condivisibile del motivo per cui un milione e mezzo di 
persone, in modo indiscriminato, sono consapevolmente condotte al limite 
dell'abbrutimento?
--------------------------
MIDEAST:  Lest We Don't Forget
By Erin Cunningham
GAZA CITY, Jun 29 (IPS) - They are little white, yellow or green pills 
and are available almost anywhere. At the pharmacies or in the market, 
they are accessible, addictive and cheap.
"I take them because it makes me forget, at least for a little while, 
that I'm in Gaza," says Abu Ala'a, a resident of the strip and father of 
four. "There is no alternative."
Looking to escape years of war, searing poverty and an unrelenting 
economic blockade, medical officials in the Gaza Strip say residents 
have developed a serious addiction to the narcotic painkiller Tramadol.
The embattled enclave's borders have been hermetically sealed by both 
Israel and Egypt for two years, and an Israeli military assault last 
winter killed some 1,500 Gazans.
Gaza has the world's highest unemployment rate - at 45 percent, 
according to the United Nations (UN) - and 75 percent of its inhabitants 
feel unsafe or insecure, a recent UN survey found.
Rumours of Tramadol's mood-enhancing properties, and its easy 
availability over the counter have consequently turned thousands of 
desperate Gazans to the comfort of the tiny pills over the past two years.
Used medically to treat moderate to severe pain, Tramadol is a synthetic 
opioid related to morphine - and more distantly to the highly addictive 
heroin.
While altering a user's perception of pain, its side effects include 
mild euphoria, sexual stamina and general feelings of relaxation. It 
also alleviates symptoms of anxiety and depression.
"People in Gaza are in a constant state of panic," says Dr. Abdel Aziz 
Mousa Thabet, clinical psychiatrist and senior researcher at the Gaza 
Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP). "Their trauma is ongoing - 
with war and the siege - they need to feel like they have control of 
their lives."
But the opiate-like painkiller, also marketed globally under the brand 
name Tramal, brings both physical and mental dependence, according to 
health officials, and can be extremely dangerous if used recreationally 
in high doses or without medical supervision.
Neither the Hamas-run government nor local health NGOs have official 
figures of just how many Gaza residents take the drug, but say its use 
is perilously widespread.
"People of all levels of society are using it," says the spokesman for 
Gaza's civilian police force, Islam Shahwan. "Men, women, youth, 
university students, fathers. It is really out of control."
Epilepsy is the most serious side affect, says the head of the health 
ministry's pharmaceutical drug department, Waseem Saqer. But Tramal can 
also cause high blood pressure and long-term damage to the liver and 
kidneys.
"It will cause confusion, dizziness, and it is very dangerous when taken 
with alcohol," Saqer says. "And people don't know this, because they 
might not be getting it directly from a doctor. The situation is very 
serious."
Packed into tablets or small gel capsules, Tramal is more discreet than 
other substances like alcohol or marijuana, says professor of 
pharmacology at Gaza's Al-Azhar University, Dr. Mazen Al-Sakka. It is 
therefore more likely to go unnoticed in a religiously conservative 
society like Gaza's.
The territory's Tramal users dissolve the pills - which come in 100 or 
200 milligram doses - in cups of tea or coffee, or even crush them up to 
smoke out of the hookah, a traditional Middle East water pipe.
Then, they say, they enter another world - calm, happy and without the 
problems that come with being forced to live in a big prison.
"I take it when I am stressed, and it completely changes my mood," says 
Abu Moustafa, an unemployed father of eight. "But now, I need to take 
more to feel as happy as I did the first time."
No longer officially available from pharmacies without a prescription - 
under orders from the healthy ministry - Tramal is smuggled in through 
the tunnels that snake under Gaza's border with Egypt to feed the 
population's growing addiction.
A strip of ten 100mg tablets costs 20-25 shekels (five to six dollars) 
with a prescription. Single pills can be bought on the black market for 
a dollar each. Any more than 400mg in a 24-hour period can be lethal, 
Saqer says.
Local pharmacists are known to keep stocks of the drug, which they sell 
for extra profit on the side, or distribute only to friends.
"We didn't realise how serious the Tramal problem was until we started 
our crackdown on drugs and drug smugglers last year," says Shahwan. "At 
the beginning, we were finding 80,000 pills at a time. A single pharmacy 
needs only 50-60 pills every six months."
Tramal has legally been sold in the Palestinian drug market for over a 
decade, but Shahwan says heavy drug users began taking it only after the 
blockade choked their normal supplies of hard drugs.
Its use then spread like wildfire among a population wracked by war and 
isolated both psychologically and geographically from the rest of the 
world. Its use is particularly prevalent in Gaza's sprawling refugee camps.
"People are anxious, they are irritated. They can't sleep, they feel 
hopeless, they feel angry," says Dr. Thabet.
"And in a normal society, if you felt this way, what would you do? You 
would revert to certain coping mechanisms - working more, studying more, 
channelling your energy. But in Gaza, there is no economy. There is no 
hope for the future, there is nothing. So they go to Tramal."
Despite all this, Shahwan says Hamas continues its efforts to stem both 
Tramal's abuse and availability in Gaza. The Hamas-run health ministry 
and local NGOs are conducting workshops on how to address the growing 
problem, as well as educate and treat addicts.
Smugglers caught transporting or selling Tramal will be fined, possibly 
imprisoned, Shahwan says, while plans are in the works to open drug 
treatment centres inside Gaza's prisons.
But if the political and economic situation remains stagnant, says Dr. 
Al- Sakka, and the threat of war continues to loom, Gazans are unlikely 
to kick their painkiller habit anytime soon.
Even worse, he fears, when the siege is lifted, not only will the 
society be tasked with rebuilding, but also with rehabilitating a 
population addicted to narcotics.
"Does Gaza's health sector have the capacity to deal with addicts? The 
answer is no," says Al-Sakka. "In my opinion, this problem we have with 
Tramal - it will emerge as a catastrophe." (END/2009)
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47403

 dell'abbrutimento?
il potere religioso ebraico si ciba di carne umana.

 dell'abbrutimento?
Perchï¿œ Persio ï¿œ un pirla.
Tb
-- 
"A vote is like a rifle, it's usefulness depends upon the character of
the user."
~ Theodore Roosevelt


Tipica risposta da idiota.
--------------------------------
Inviato via 
http://arianna.libero.it/usenet/

 dell'abbrutimento?
L'impero romano imponeva la sua pax. Dopo qualche migliaio di anni esiste
la 
pax USA e nella pax USA la Palestina non aveva posto, Israele si. 
Non � umanamente condivisibile.
In attesa della terza distruzione del tempio.
�crasez l'Inf�me!!!!
-- 
gus
questo articolo e` stato inviato via web dal servizio gratuito 
http://www.newsland.it/news
 segnala gli abusi ad 
ab...@newsland.it

 GAZA CITY, Jun 29 (IPS) - They are little white, yellow or green pills
#_Una grande differenza...con "Tramal" moriranno col sorriso sulle labbra. 
<g>
G. 

נחום ha scritto:


Gli ebrei sono vittime come i palestinesi nella Palestina di oggi,
l'infame � 
il nazionalsionismo.


 L[cut]
Attento al culo.
Hai un corno di terracotta, infilato l�, che sibila minchiate insensate.


 il nazionalsionismo.
Ehi, un po' tutti i rincoglioniti antisemiti dicono le stesse pirlate di 
Persio. Forse non se lo merita un blog: non � cos� originale.


 Tipica risposta da idiota.
Eh, ormai il bagarozzo ï¿œ all'ebetismo: si esprime per frasi fatte, per 
concetti stereotipati.
E' rimasto preso nella sua stessa trappola.

Persio ha scritto:

E' bello vedere questo momento di amorosi sensi tra il pirla al nero di 
seppia e il nero bruno di ipi.
Un vortice vertiginoso che in un cero senso commuove.
A proposito, Persio, si ï¿œ poi risolto il mistero di Cristo e la merda di 
cammello?


 E' rimasto preso nella sua stessa trappola.
#_Il ripetersi , e`la deviazione professionale del pubblicitario...
Lui , povero deficente tuorettiano, lo fa con quello che ha di piu`caro nel 
suo bagaglio: la sua coprolalia!
G. 

 seppia e il nero bruno di ipi.
ricorda quei ragazzini con chitarra che credono di compiacere il Caro
Pubblico imitando qualche rockstar. E sfasciano la chitarra.

 Perché Persio è un pirla.
Muove le leve sbagliate.
-- 
Baci,
Mony

 Tipica risposta da idiota.
Non mi sembra di aver letto la tua.

 Persio. Forse non se lo merita un blog: non è così originale.
Non è un innovatore ma senz'altro è un ottimo compilatore. Forse fa 
parte dell'Arcadia.
-- 
Baci,
Mony

 In attesa della terza distruzione del tempio.
il tempio non è stato più ricostruito, dopo che Gerusalemme, la Kabul
dell'epoca, scomparve per rinascere come città imperiale moderna e al
passo coi tempi, Aelia Capitolina