Mosque's drug awareness event hailed 'encouraging'

A drug and alcohol awareness event has taken place at a mosque to encourage Muslims and families struggling with addiction to seek help.

Dozens of people, including children, attended the workshop organised by Dr Azhar Chaudhry at Peterborough's biggest Mosque, Faizan-E-Madina.

Dr Chaudhry said the issue of drug and alcohol dependency within the city's Muslim community was "a huge problem", but engaging with them had been a challenge due to cultural stigma.

Raja Alyas from Peterborough-based Aspire charity, which works with harder-to-reach communities, called it "a step in the right direction".

Dr Chaudhry, who works at Thistlemoor Medical Centre, said the involvement of the mosque committee, who attended and helped organise it, was "encouraging".

He said there was still work to be done on engaging with Mosques who can support initiatives like Aspire, but appreciated their efforts to work together.

He moved to the UK in 2001 from Pakistan and is part of the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA).

He runs other workshops on CPR, diabetes and cancer screening to raise awareness within the community as a volunteer.

"I love what I do. I am passionate about saving lives", he said.

"You will be shocked to see how prevalent the drug and alcohol issues are in the Muslim community. I see it as a GP who works in a diverse part of the city.

"But it is difficult to engage with them, they don't want to seek help.

"It is a sensitive issue for the community. There is a lot of stigma, so it needs to be addressed cautiously but attitudes are improving, hopefully."

Aspire works with Peterborough City Council, GPs and the Probation Service.

It also operates a clinic regularly at Thistlemoor Medical Centre to give people facing stigma a "discreet option" to seek help.

Mr Alyas said: "The workshop was well attended and was very interactive and great to see young people asking questions about how they can safeguard themselves.

"The young generation is being empowered with knowledge on making their decisions," he said.

"It was good to see the attendees acknowledging that there is an issue. Previously, when we tired to set up a workshop like this it was not as well received.

"But the mosque saying they look forward to more events including for women is a step in the right direction."

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