The Iraqi Red Crescent, with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, launched a campaign (No to Drugs) to educate the local community about the scourge of drugs, the campaign began with a football match between the stars of the Iraqi football team, and the players carried the logo of (No to drugs) on their shirts.

The Former international player Shaker Mahmoud stressed that every person in community has a role and must contribute to raising awareness, he added, “Awareness lies through all segments of community, such as friends and the people of the region, the role of schools and universities, the role of media and all community organizations.”
Shaker continued, “It would be preferable if the Iraqi league teams contributed to follow the example of the Red Crescent and take the initiative to raise the logo No to Drugs on the shirts of players for all teams throughout the football season.”
The drug poses a great danger, as the abuser becomes emaciated due to loss of appetite and exposure to diseases due to weak immunity, nervous disorders, digestive and respiratory systems, anemia, explosion in the arteries, memory loss, erosion of nerve cells in the brain, epilepsy, hallucinations, infertility and the birth of deformed children, it is also one of the most dangerous causes of family disintegration.
The former Iraqi national team player Essam Abdul Amir stressed the importance of sports initiatives in educating young people from drifting towards drug abuse, saying: “Most of the youth play football, and when the athlete puts the logo (No to drugs) he is absolutely certain of the danger of these deadly toxins on the body, he calls for not reaching it, and the young man is keen to have an athletic body, because abuse and addiction will destroy his body, so we urge young people to exercise to build a healthy body and not to be drawn into deadly pests.
Essam continued, “This is a first initiative that may be followed by initiatives, and we, as athletes, will contribute with the Red Crescent to support this campaign to educate young people about the danger of drugs.”
While the former national team player, Captain Sabah Abdel Hassan, indicated that this pandemic, as he called it, is an alien to community, and he continued: It was previously said that prevention is better than treatment, and from this point of view, all authorities and institutions must go to eliminate this dangerous scourge, and we are through this match and the other matches, we hope the youth will stay away from drugs.”
He also added: We are athletic people, and I am based on the premise that my profession is football in direct contact with the youth, I raise the logo “No to drugs” and urge everyone to contribute and support humanitarian organizations in this campaign, because every action needs sustainability for success.
The former national team player, Ahmed Hussein, praised the efforts of the Iraqi Red Crescent in promoting the danger of drugs, saying: The logo (No to drugs) on the players’ shirts is a great message to the public because most of the campaigns involve famous and well-known personalities, and Iraqi football stars are sporting role models for sports and morals for that, so the impact will be effective because many young people imitate them, and therefore the space of this campaign will be large to raise awareness of the dangers of this deadly scourge that is ravaging societies, and Hussein called for the need for institutions for health and psychological rehabilitation for victims of addiction.