The Role of Media in Combating Drug Abuse

In the light of the University’s interest in interactive learning, a symposium entilted “ The Role of Media in Combating Drug Abuse” was held on Tuesday, 3 December 2019. The sympsoium was delivered by Dr. Thanaa Anwar, a Lecturer at the Faculty of Physical Therapy where she spoke about the psychological and physical effects of drugs on the addict. She also highlighted the types of drugs and the general dangers of drug abuse and addiction and its psychological effects in particular. Also, Associate Prof. Tamer Sokar who teaches in the Radio and Television Department- addressed the constructive and destructive roles of mass media in this issue confirming that mass media are considered two-edged weapons in the issue of combating drug abuse and addiction. Then, Dr. Khaled El Zohainy, a Lecturer at the ​Department of Public Relations and Marketing Communications, took the floor to speak about the procedures that should be followed in addressing this issue; he stressed that mass media should follow a regular pace or what is called a long-term policy in this issue especially that media awareness campaigns about combating drug abuse suddenly vanished without a trace and thus lost credibility and led youth to  harshly relapse into addiction. At the last section of the symosium, freshmen presented some ideas of a campaign to be launched under the name of “Towards No Drug Abuse” accompanied by some videos.