Mosul youth turning to alcohol to overcome trauma

(25 Aug 2019) LEAD IN:
Two years after the Islamic State group was forced out of the city of Mosul, alcohol shops are reopening their doors.
After years of oppression, some traumatised youth are turning to booze to alleviate their pain - a big problem for this conservative society.

STORY-LINE:
It's night time, and young adults in Mosul are heading out to do some shopping.
They are buying drinks from one of the alcohol shops that have reopened in the city.
The stores were banned during the Islamic State group's three-year occupation of Mosul.
But with the militants now driven out, shops like this has returned.
Young people take their purchases to dark streets to drink in secret.
In this conservative city, they want their identity hidden as alcohol is frowned upon by society.
"We drink in these kinds of places because the majority of the youth don't have a place to go and drink. Therefore, you notice that all young people are gathering in these areas because they have no specific place to go," says Abu Khalid, an alcohol drinker from Mosul.
Mosul was home to just over 1.8 million people before IS took over in 2014; the current population is just over 660,000.
And Khalid accept's that life under IS may have triggered this drinking habit.
"Anyone who comes here wants to forget about his worries. Those who lost a father, brother, mother, or sister, or those whose house collapsed or car burned," he says.
"You see them all coming here to forget their worries and anything that reminds them of the time of Daesh. Daesh has left behind a brutalised generation," he adds.
People within the city are concerned that the level of alcohol abuse is increasing.
Ahmad Najm, a civil society activist, says that this is becoming a problem.
"With the increase of unemployment rates and the severe economic recession in the city of Mosul, adding to that the psychological repression which the youths in Mosul city suffered during the time of Daesh occupation of the city, we notice a negative reaction to this issue. A lot of youths escape from their problems and reality with alcohol abuse and even drug abuse and pills. This is a very negative situation," he says.
The majority of the alcohol sellers are Yazidis as Iraq doesn't grant alcohol licenses to Muslims.  
Sarbast, the Yazidi owner of this shop, says they are providing an important service for their customers.
"Instead of people going to the north and other faraway areas, we opened in Mosul and the business is going well, thanks to God," he says.
So business is good for Sarbast - but alcohol will never be a healthy way to deal with the trauma caused by IS occupation.

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