Drug users in Sharjah find innovative ways to get their fix

Even the drug addicts and users are innovators here. They've invented different ways to help them use drugs in public without anyone even noticing.
For example, they have transformed the instrument of injection to that just dipping ordinary cigarette in the oily liquid of hashish and heroin. They empty ordinary cigarettes of tobacco and fill them up with marijuana and hashish. They use Midwakh, a small smoking pipe of Arabian origin, to smoke a sort of chemical crystal which turn young men into seemingly elderly ones.
They use cocaine through injection or they only chew its leaf or transferred as heroin to oily liquid and use it with cigarettes. The users also consume tramadol, captagon and others banned pills and capsules, which are common among teenagers.
A top official of the anti-narcotic department of the Sharjah Police said that police are always on alert to keep a check on all kinds of methods that addicts and drug users invent to avoid the attention of others and police. "Any time they invent ways to use the drug, the police would know it and bust the users," he said
Police in all countries make great efforts to combat the trafficking, dealing, possession and consumption of all kinds of narcotics. Sharjah Police also coordinate with police headquarters in various emirates.
"Police also make efforts at rehabilitating drugs addicts and users and helps them start a new life free of drugs. The addicts who surrender themselves will not face any legal action," he said
Brig Mohammed Al Bayat, Director of Police Operations at Sharjah Police, said that police in coordination with other concerned departments have made great strides in busting gangs involved in trafficking, peddling and promoting drugs, and have seized a total of 250kg drugs including hashish, heroin, opium, along with 7,100,000 illicit pills.
Col Salah Al Qaseer, Deputy Director of the Rehabilitation Center for drug Addicts, said that the Sharjah Police believe that the addicts are victims of the scourge of drugs which have been imported from foreign countries to destroy the youth.
According to Col Al Qaseer, the centre is dealing with addicts as patients that are in need of more care, love and attention. The staff in the centre uses advanced medical treatment and methods of rehabilitation to save the lives of the addicts and provide them a chance to start afresh. In 2015 the centre provided rehabilitation services for 106 patients referred by concerned authorities, including 18 who voluntarily surrendered themselves.
Early detection and signs
Dr Isam Samaha, psychiatric at Sharjah rehabilitation centre, said that an addict always lives in fear and sadness, due to the effect of the drugs on his health and life.
Parents must watch children and also be aware of the signs of addiction. The signs differ from one to another based on the type of the drugs. For example, the addicts of marijuana and hashish lose balance while walking and concentration while speaking to others, suffer high blood pressure , blood-shot eyes, are fond of sugary food and are often paranoid.
Addicts of captagon, tramadol and other types of pills, suffer from depression, lack of sleep, weight loss, lack of appetite, and increased mucous secretion, as well as rapid heartbeat and high blood pressure and body temperature.
Other sleeping pills cause lack of concentration, giddiness, depression, anxiousness and lack of balance. Cocaine, heroin and morphine addicts suffer from numbness, constipation and breathlessness.
afkarali@khaleejtimes.com

Photo by M.Sajjad