In Tunisia, the Arab world’s only democracy, drug consumption carries an automatic one-year prison sentence. Nearly a third of that African nation’s prison population is now doing time for drug offenses.
Since the end of the Tunisian Revolution in 2011, drug addiction rates have reportedly shot up 70%, and a study shows that about half of the Tunisian student population smokes marijuana and drinks alcohol.
Nidhal Arfaoui, project director for Youth Ambassadors for the Fight Against Youth Drug Abuse, is passionate about putting an end to all this.
Shortly after discovering the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, Arfaoui ordered his own Truth About Drugs educator kit, and organized a three-day training seminar for 96 Boy Scout leaders of The Tunisian Scouts, his country’s national scouting organization.
Boy Scout leaders were treated to a full Truth About Drugs presentation and studied the program’s educational booklets, preparing to put them to use in their work salvaging youthful addicts.
The group then participated in discussions and activities to share what they had learned and how they planned to use the materials with those they mentor.
