Since the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year, the Regional Directorate of Police Prishtina (DRP) has initiated investigation of four cases related to drug use or distribution inside schools and have arrested five people, two of which were minors. Many bags containing marijuana were confiscated during these operations.
Three cases in nearby schools were identified during the same period, by which occasion some bags with narcotics were confiscated as well.
“Labyrinth” rehabilitation center in Prishtina confirms that there are many high school pupils who go there and ask for treatment, and according to them, the highest number of marijuana consumers are high school pupils.
“The easy access to drugs, the wish to belong to the group, the wish to be ‘in’, and peer pressure, are some of the main reasons why youngsters consume drugs, or at least try them once,” the psychologist of this center, Gentiana Kuçi-Tishukaj says.
Many parents in the capital of Kosovo express their concern about the time when their children finish primary school and have to go in one of the high schools: they are especially concerned when it comes to “Sami Frashëri” Gymnasium in Prishtina. The reason for this are the rumors that have been spread in public about the presence of drugs among pupils inside this facility.
The officials of this gymnasium do not blame the parents for their hesitations and concerns.
“It is true that they say that drug is being consumed in schools and I do not deny such thing. But we are investigating these cases to the best of our ability during school hours, but we did not find anyone using drugs in ‘Sami Frashëri’ gymnasium,” the principal Fetah Zejnullahu says.
According to him, the situation is not as it is said to be.
Even though he denies that there are cases of consuming drugs in the school he leads, he adds that after each break he checks the school`s bathrooms to see if there is anything suspicious.
By law, the police aren’t allowed to inspect inside the educational institutions, but the cooperation with them is done after their investigation and then is followed by control measures by school administration.
“I monitor the school building and the yard through cameras, I have the security guard and we are very committed within our competency,” he says.
As for consuming drugs in nearby cafeterias, he says that neither the school or the police can do more about it and that the control of the coffee shops and the products that are sold in there are beyond their control.
Arsim Gashi, vice-director of the primary school “Faik Konica” in Prishtinë also denies to have had any cases of pupils consuming or possessing drugs inside the school.
“We do not take responsibility for what happens outside school,” he says .
In “Labyrinth” rehabilitation center in Prishtinë, 1,300 people asked for help at least once since 2012. According to them, the average age of marijuana consumers is 16, whereas when it comes to hard drugs among which cocaine and heroin dominate, the average age of consumers is 22. The most extreme case that went there to ask for help was a 12 year old.
Brikena Krasniqi-Hoti, this center’s manager, complains that the center has no institutional support in the financial aspect, except for the activities implementation. Actually, this center`s only financial source is the Global Fund, which is a partnership fund between the governments, civil society, private sector and the affected people.
According to Kosovo Police, 874 people were arrested in 2016: there were 198 drug trafficking cases, 799 cases of drug possession, and 85 cases of drug cultivation.
In the same period of time an increase in the consumption of some drugs, especially marijuana and cocaine, is being noticed.
Liridona Berisha
