Addiction can come in many forms and it can touch every one of us. There are drugs that can be purchased legally, easily, and be just as addictive. Despite efforts, the regulation procedures in place are inefficient to truly control the sales of pharmaceutical products.

It doesn’t take a syringe, ecstasy pills or a shady dealer in a dark alley to make a drug addict. As a matter of fact, it’s much easier than that. Over the 71 people who were admitted for detox at the Jeunesse Contre la Drogue rehabilitation center this year, 48 were taking pills among other things or as the sole drug. The names most commonly mentioned are Tramal, Rivotril,Xanax, Lexotanil, Benzexol… all available more or less easily at the pharmacy counter. Sometimes it starts as a prescribed medication that goes out of control and ends up becoming an essential part of daily life. For a “former” drug addict, it can become a guilt free substitute considered “socially acceptable” and for others, pharmaceutical are simply a good way to start a weekend.

A typical Friday afternoon. Sitting on his bed, Tarek is preparing a mix of vodka, lemon and sugar, “sugar makes the alcohol go in the blood much faster” explains the 19 year old. The result is a sweet lemonade-like drink, easy to gulp. The point is to get there, and then enjoy the ride. Michel, his friend produces a box of Tramal from his backpack and takes out 10 tablets in total, that’s 5 pills for each. The boys swallow them right away with a swig of vodka and a piece of bread “You got to eat something or they say you get stomach cramps”. They turn on the TV and “disconnect” for at least the rest of the day. It’s a real ritual that the two friends have elaborated. Tramal is an analgesic used for treating moderate pain, and that also induces euphoria and a state of well being if taken in high doses. Both young men say they realize that Tramadol provokes physical dependence.

For some university students, pills just rhyme with thrills and getting high with prescription drugs is just another way to have fun over the weekend. They even insist that “they can control it” and that “there’s no addiction”. Some common ways to get high can be as easy as grabbing some cough syrup that contains codeine, or even finding a way to get prescription drugs. Xanax, Rivotril, Atarax, Alprox, Valium, codeine, Lexotanyl, they have the pharmaceutical knowledge of a desperate housewife and the dissimulation techniques of a confirmed drug user. “But it’s not like we’re really drug addicts” say Michel and Tarek.

Lina Khoury, a counselor at Oum el Nour, an NGO that helps people overcome their addiction warns that risks associated with these habits include intense pain and feeling cold turkey and concentration problems. She explains that dependence to these drugs starts when the person cannot have fun on the weekend without consuming Tramal, “that means when the week end is physically and psychologically linked to Tramal”.