AL-KHOBAR – The General Directorate for Narcotics Control (GDNC), while denying social media reports of an increase of 70 percent hash use in schools here, emphasized that the body is combating the drug menace at all levels, daily Al-Hayat daily reported.
Seizures at various borders, awareness programs and preventive measures, including rehabilitation efforts, are the ongoing GDNC efforts, which revealed increasing seizures in the past year and reduction in the number of women using drugs as compared to men. The directorate also indicated that teenagers are the prime targets of drug pushers.
The director of preventive programs at GDNC, Col. Sami Al-Hamoud, said, “Fieldwork, statistics and seizures of drugs show that there is no basis to the websites’ assertions that 70 percent of hashish was smuggled into the country aimed at school students.”
He added, “However, the pushers of hashish have increased their attempts at smuggling across the border using various methods, and also make every effort to stay ahead of the monitoring body.”
He added, “Amounts seized by Customs and Border Guard in 1437H were 41 ton and 785 kg, an increase from the year 1436H, which was 32 ton and 352 kg. While the number of addicts worldwide was 247 million, and there is no figures for the number of drug addicts in Saudi Arabia.”
Al-Hamoud said the peddlers were not from specific nationalities, but the closest areas where the production of the drug is Afghanistan, and then Pakistan to a lesser extent, and in nearby places Lebanon, Turkey and other countries.
Al-Hamoud added these dealers target youngsters in the age range of ten to 17. “Statistics of those admitted to rehabilitation centers show that the most received calls are from families related to male addiction, and few cases of female addicts.”
Dr. Walid Al-Melhem, psychiatry consultant and head of psychological and criminal medical committees in Al-Amal Mental Health Center in Dammam, said that the effects of drug use bring “a sense of joy and self-confidence and a sense of relaxation, happiness and increased appetite. It also increases desire for meeting and frequent talk.”
Al-Melhem pointed out that the patient sees bright colors and is imbalanced in the perception of time. Drug addicts speak of visual hallucinations and auditory hallucinations also occur, which lead to fear and panic.
On the pathological damage to the addict, Al-Melhem explained that they include “inflammation of the lung and cause lung cancer, in addition to damages to the brain, heart and reproductive system.”
