My name is Abdul Rashed Mohamandi. I come from Afghanistan and have been living in Athens, the capital of Greece, for the past year and a half.
Narcotic drug use: Research has shown that 190 million people worldwide are illegal drug users, the majority of them young people.
The question is why does someone become a drug user?
Some young people who are driven out of their own country by war and arrive in Europe, may well feel that war and misery are over for them, but they soon realise that not even European countries can offer them a comfortable life. They run out of money and have no one to help them… In their despair, they fall victim to drugs…
We spoke to one young man to whom this has happened.
His name is Yiasin, he is 22 years old and comes from the war-torn country of Afghanistan.
He came to Europe two years ago, and for the time being, his only home is a park.
I asked him why he took drugs.
He replied, full of anguish…
When I arrived in Greece, I could only speak my mother tongue. I wanted to leave Greece and go to Italy. I spoke to one of the traffickers who told me he would get me there. He took me to the city of Patras and hid me in a lorry. At midnight, the lorry driver discovered me and called the police, who asked for my papers. I didn’t have any, so they sent me to prison where I stayed for 13 months. During that time, I began to suffer from depression.
One night, another inmate asked me why I was so sad and I told him my story.
He was very friendly and gave me a pill saying it would cheer me up.
We met regularly and I kept taking the pills. When I was released from prison, my whole body hurt. I was angry. I had no idea I had become addicted. I only realised when I went to a hospital in Athens.
My final question to Yiasin was: what do you have to say to those that come into contact with narcotics for the first time?
I would tell them not to play with fire. I want to say to all the young people that come to Europe, that they must try to put into practice all their good ideas, even if the system gives them very little help. For example, the first thing that young people want to do when they arrive is to go to school and become successful. That is what they should do.
Education is the way to achieve what you want.
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