Some 4.4 million pills seized by Turkey in 2013

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Prof. Necdet Ünüvar, the head of Turkey’s Technical Board for the Fight Against Drugs. DHA Photo

Turkey seized some 4.4 million drug pills in 2013, while the number was some 4.8 million across the European Union the same year, according to Prof. Necdet Ünüvar, the head of Turkey’s Technical Board for the Fight Against Drugs. 

Ünüvar said during a meeting on Dec. 3 that Turkey seizes more drugs annually than the collective European Union member states do. “The European Drugs Report shows that 4.8 million drug pills were seized in Europe in 2013, which doubled the amount seized in 2009. Turkey, however, seized 4.4 million drug pills in the same year, according to the same report,” he said. 

Ünüvar also said Turkey’s operations targeting drug trafficking were protecting the world, as well as decreasing the amount of drugs seized in Europe, as the country is on significant drug trafficking routes according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Health Ministry has said the number of underage drug users increased in 2014, a year which saw a sharp rise in the number of people treated for drug addiction across the country. 

In 2014, a total of 231,412 young people in Turkey were examined for drug addiction or use, up from 202,495 people the year before, according to the ministry’s data. There was also a sharp rise in the number of both outpatient and inpatient treatments across the country, from 9,870 outpatients and 911 inpatients in 2013 to 14,524 outpatients and 1,315 inpatients in 2014.