Drug Abuse in the Middle East: Promoting Mutual Interests Through Resistance and Resilience

Abstract

Because Jewish and Arab people have been in a declared and/or de facto state of war since the establishment of Israel in 1948, the possibility of such people to deal with mutual mental health and addiction problems has been remote. Addiction, through mutual law enforcement efforts, information sharing, training, and research have not until recently been considered as an effective strategy to tackle. A guiding principle of this case study of joint Middle East efforts is that encounters between addiction caregivers, researchers, policy makers, and others including physicians, psychologists, social workers, and academicians can have multiple aims. One is to address local and regional problems through evidence-based interventions. Another is to develop a framework for positive interaction by focusing on a common topic of scientific and public health interest in order to promote communication and cooperation, reducing conflict and hostility. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)