In its latest report, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) reveals the extent of the phenomenon of addiction in Morocco, its significant economic weight, and recommends solutions to curb this scourge.
Did you know? Legal products and goods that can be sources of addiction represent 3% of the national GDP. This is one of the key revelations of the latest report from the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE) on the phenomenon of addiction in Morocco. An alarming document, “worrying” findings.
This addiction economy generates a turnover of more than 32 billion dirhams or the equivalent of 9.1% of the Moroccan state’s annual tax revenue. The tobacco industry tops the list with revenues of 17 billion dirhams, five times more than the budget allocated to investment by the Ministry of Health. This shows the significant weight of these activities.
If this economy has been able to experience such growth in the Kingdom, it is because it feeds on the addiction of millions of consumers. Its main customers, are the followers of the cigarette. The ESEC indicates the existence of 6 million smokers in Morocco, including 5.4 million adults and 600,000 minors under the age of 18. Smokers consume more than 15 billion cigarettes each year, with levels of nicotine and toxic substances higher than the products authorized in Europe.
Another revenue-generating sector is gambling. Between 2.8 million and 3 million Moroccans regularly engage in these bets. Worse, at least 40% of them are considered excessive risk gamblers, in other words, people who could be seriously affected by these games. Of course, hard drugs are not left out. The report cites a regional study published in 2016 which revealed that more than 18,500 Moroccans regularly inject these substances, many of whom are people with HIV and hepatitis C.
The search for immediate pleasure
The institution of former minister Ahmed Chami also notes the impact of excessive use of screens, video games, and the Internet on the health of users. In an interview with Maroc Hebdo in July 2021, Dr. Imane Kendili, psychiatrist-addictologist, explained to us that “video games, especially online games, are very dangerous and influence the behavior of children and adolescents.
These are violent games and the fact of consuming a lot of screens will give a dose of serotonin which causes sleep disorders (insomnia and sleep disorders treatment: Ambien Zolpidem), anxiety, irritability, aggression, depression, eating disorders, and especially the passages in action”. The author of The Drugs Explained to My Children goes even further by stating that gambling “can be considered a drug”, since “scientific studies have revealed that the brain lights up exactly same way during cocaine consumption as for gambling, characterized by a reward system, the release of dopamine and immediate pleasure, and a rhythm of addiction”.
Real illnesses
Effectively combating these addictions will not be easy in the Kingdom, according to the ESEC, in particular, because of two major obstacles. They are not sufficiently recognized, nor effectively taken care of by social protection organizations, nor treated as illnesses, whereas they are considered as pathologies by the World Health Organization (WHO). The other pitfall is the fact that the health authorities summarize this phenomenon as drug addiction, thus neglecting the others with their corollary of misdeeds on the health of consumers.
The Council also notes the lack of infrastructure dedicated to the treatment of addictions, with only 18 addictology structures, including 15 outpatient centers, 5 of which are able to provide opiate substitution treatment (OST) and 3 residential services at the University Hospital Centers of Rabat, Casablanca, and Fez. A shortage of human resources is also reported, with only 64 general practitioners or psychiatrists trained in addiction medicine.
Lack of dedicated infrastructures
After the diagnosis, place for the solutions. The Council recommends reserving at least 10% of the income generated by the addiction economy for financing treatment, research, and the prevention of addiction. The objective is to reduce the impact of this phenomenon on users.
