A panel hosted by the College of Law and Politics at the University of Human Development (UHD) discussed the issues of drug dealing and drug trafficking in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The panel occurred at Professor Dr Ali Qaradaghi Hall on 9th December 2024.

The guest speaker was Colonel and legal expert Aram Taha Ahmed, head of administrative affairs at the Sulaymaniyah Drug Control Directorate, a government agency recently established to combat the growing problem of drugs. Following an introduction on the topic by Assistant Professor Mr Karwan Awrahman Ismail, a member of the teaching staff at the Department of Law and UHD, Colonel Aram Taha Ahmed elaborated on several aspects of drug dealing and consumption.

He first identified the main source of drugs: the country where most of the world’s drugs are produced is Afghanistan, and he mentioned that Iraq is used both as a transit route and an endpoint. Local and international drug traffickers operate illegally and clandestinely in Iraq, primarily to smuggle drugs into other countries, but also to deliver them to their clients.

He clarified his Directorate’s responsibility and stated that the challenges are significant, but they do all they can to find and combat the dealers and to apprehend them and bring them to justice. He mentioned that his unit is under-resourced; however, they are doing a magnificent job in fighting the dealers and seizing their drugs. Over the last eleven months, they have managed to seize 4.5 tonnes of various kinds of drugs in the Governorate of Sulaymaniyah.

Colonel Ahmed presented some figures indicating that the illegal drug trade has decreased in Sulaymaniyah, although it is generally increasing across all of Iraq. He mentioned that many types of drugs are classified as illegal under the region’s laws. He stated that a locally produced drug from Syria causes users to become very aggressive and violent.

Finally, the Colonel stated that his directorate is working with other government agencies, such as the Health Directorate, to find solutions for drug consumers, as they are ill and victims, and should be treated as such. However, this condition should not exempt them from legal punishment. He pointed out that fighting drugs is everyone’s responsibility; everyone should play a role in that, such as raising awareness of the terrible consequences of drug use and all the other repercussions.