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UAE Police: How families can protect youth from drugs

Abu Dhabi - Abu Dhabi Police organise online lecture as part of awareness drive and family education service.

Abu Dhabi Police have warned young people about the dangers of drugs use and stressed the need for families to safeguard their children from bad groups and teach them good morals to protect them from drug abuse.

In a remote lecture entitled: “The world of drugs and how to protect young people from them”, organised recently by police as part of the awareness and family education service, in cooperation with the Family Development Foundation, the authorities said drug abuse was a very dangerous habit and has negative impacts to the society.

During the lecture, Captain Yusef Al Hammadi from the Anti-Narcotics Directorate of Abu Dhabi Police presented an introduction to the reasons of drug use and its spread, why youth get addicted and ways to prevent drug abuse.

"It is very important that we protect our children from falling into all forms of addictive drugs," said Al Hammadi.

According to the authorities, intoxicant is considered to be any substance which when consumed, causes one to lose his intellect or affects his consciousness in a way that he is no longer aware of his intellect.

"All forms of drugs, whether in liquid form such as alcohol, or whether they be smoked, ingested or even injected are bad. And the most dangerous of these are the category of those addictive drugs that lead to substance abuse," said the official.

He affirmed the Abu Dhabi Police’s interest in raising awareness of the dangers of this scourge in order to protect the security of society and the safety of its members, and to keep pace with development to confront the methods of drug traffickers in cooperation with various police agencies locally, regionally and internationally, and to intensify efforts to dry up their sources and address the dangers.

He highlighted the necessity of combating the illicit use of drugs and that it was within the framework of their comprehensive strategy to combat drugs and one of the aspects based on regional and international coordination and cooperation.

“It is a collective responsibility to protect our societies from the dangers of this scourge and to address the issue of gangs smuggling drugs,” said police.

The UAE Public Prosecution had recently reiterated their call against the use of drugs and psychotropic substances especially among youths stressing that those found guilty will face a jail term of not less than two years and a fine of not less than Dh10,000.

Through educational messages posted on their social media accounts as part of efforts to combat the use of drugs and educating the public about the dangers of drug abuse and the penalties involved, the prosecutors warned that the Federal Law No. 14 of 1995 Concerning Combating Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances prohibits the use of narcotics and psychotropic or prescription-only drugs unless when one has obtained a doctor's permission.

According to Article 34 of the same law, it is not permissible to abuse narcotic substances or Psychotropic substances in any form or using them personally except for treatment and only after obtaining a prescription from a physician.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com