Democratic institutions in Diyarbakır (Amed) spent six months working on this issue and established the "Be aware! Platform for the Fight Against Drugs" to combat drug abuse.

Murat Kan, co-spokesperson of the Platform for the Fight Against Drugs, shared the purpose behind establishing the platform and its activities in an interview with ANF.

Kan said: “Undoubtedly, social needs determine institutional structures. The Platform for the Fight Against Drugs was born out of a social necessity. We are experiencing a period where drug and substance addiction is on the rise. Undoubtedly, there are political and societal reasons behind this. What determines this situation is the extent to which the current system has evolved. The dominant system is, above all, a system that seeks to organize itself within society. In order to do so, it envisions a society that is apolitical, detached from social reality, disconnected from its own values, and unable to be itself. While designing such a society, the dominant system inevitably uses various methods to reshape society according to the fundamental paradigms of its own ruling structure.

Taking this reality into account, we felt the need to establish such a platform. Under the current conditions, we believe that substance addiction and drug use seriously disturb society and cause a significant loss of social values. The fundamental reason for moral decay and society’s alienation from its own values lies in special warfare policies. Based on this reality, we saw the necessity of creating a platform to raise our voices against these problems.”

The main goal is to build social awareness

Kan said that drug and substance use is increasing day by day and said: “Our main goal is to build social awareness regarding drug and substance use. We will carry out various activities to achieve this. We have outlined a general roadmap. In the initial phase, we are planning a one-year effort. During this period, we aim to create awareness. We are aware that this awareness can only be developed by engaging with the families who are directly experiencing this problem. Therefore, as a platform, we want to speak from a place that is based on internal consensus among affected families.”