Social media exposing 13-year-olds to drugs

UAE Police authorities have been stepping up fight against drugs as schools become the latest victim of this social menace, according to a report published in the April edition of 999 Magazine, the official English monthly of the UAE’s Ministry of Interior.

Law enforcement action continues, and international co-operation has led to the busting of many smuggling attempts. However, that alone cannot counter this trend, so more innovative strategies have been undertaken, including awareness campaigns that highlight the role of the family and school management in eradicating this issue. 

The 999 Magazine report reveals that the average drug user in the UAE is now starting at the age of 12 and is highly likely to get his/her supplies from an older student in the same school.

The special report cites findings over the past couple of years to state that 2013 is very important in the fight against addictive substances, with the UAE Police Authorities giving an official warning to schools about drug use among their students and urging them to come forward and report any detected cases.

Among the findings highlighted by 999 is the fact that a drug like heroin is available to children as young as 10 and that abuse of non-prescription medication starts on an average at the age of 13, leading to full-scale abuse of stronger prescription medicines by the time the addict is 18 or older.

Around the age of 12, children are introduced to drugs like Spice, a synthetic cannabinoid, and tramadol, a pill banned in the UAE but regularly stockpiled by smugglers. The popularity of social networking media among the young has made it easier to exploit these platforms to lure them into drug use. The increase in the abuse of Tramadol abuse is highlighted in the 2012 seizure of more than 90 million pills worth Dh1 billion in a warehouse in the UAE.

To address this, UAE Police Authorities have stepped up efforts to seize drugs and launched campaigns to stress on the importance of the family’s role in combating drugs. The National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Education Council and they jointly conducted a four-day anti-drug workshop in October 2012 for Abu Dhabi school teachers, social workers and NRC nurses.

The Fawasel programme, under which the workshop was held, was designed as per international standards and its first phase began with anti-drug awareness lessons in eight schools in Abu Dhabi in early 2012, with plans for extension across the country.  

According to the magazine report, older students become drug peddlers when they are hooked by dealers and have to find the money to get their fix; so they ‘recruit’ new addicts from students much younger than themselves. The younger people are either misled into thinking that some of the drugs being offered to them are substances to help enhance their academic performance – tramadol is passed off as a vitamin – or that the substances are mildly mood lifting and, therefore, pose no great danger.

Taking a closer look at the peddler students, 999 found that the “drug money” fuels an expensive partying lifestyle. The narcotics and the money change hands among a tightly knit circle, as the older students are aware of the strict provisions of the law. One boy involved in a school drug ring revealed that some of his mates who were into selling Spice were caught and given jail terms.

Another threat cited in the cover story is young people turning to easily available household items such as butane gas canisters, nail polish, paint thinner, etc. that can give a “high” when inhaled. The chemicals in these substances can be lethal when inhaled deeply.

As for the abuse of medication, Dr Ali Al Marzouqi, Director of Surveillance, NRC, was quoted by 999 as saying that between 2009 and 2012, there had been a huge spike in the reported abuse of prescription painkillers such as tramadol, methadone and codeine and sedatives such as Xanax and Valium and other psychoactive substances. The children often raid their parent's medicine cabinet to get their hands on these.

Lt. Colonel Awadh Saleh Al Kindi, Editor-in-Chief of 999, said: “The average UAE school kid is now likely to be exposed on narcotics at the pre-teen stage. While the Ministry of Interior along with other UAE Authorities have strengthened our policing and monitoring capabilities to stop this problem, we would like to continuously flag the importance of family ties in eradicating this on-going war against drugs.

“Studies have shown that the lack of parent-children interaction is one of the major reasons blamed for the rise in early drug use. We have to combat drugs as a family, as a peer group, as an educational institution and as a social organisation.”

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