Two students in their final year of high school were arrested Feb. 12 under Tunisia’s draconian Law 52, which punishes the consumption or possession of cannabis with prison time and heavy fines. The public outcry reached enough of a fever pitch that the government felt compelled to respond.
“No to the prison sentence!” said Prime Minister Youssef Chahed during a visit to the soon-to-be-reopened El Amal, a drug rehabilitation facility. El Amal was the country’s only drug abuse treatment and prevention center before it was closed several years ago. Its reopening, a move supported by the Health Ministry, along with Chahed’s public statement, perhaps offers a bit of cautious optimism that the government might be willing to reconsider its treatment of drug users and abusers.
