Saudi urged to enforce pre-marriage drug test

Saudi Arabia should start testing marrying couples for drugs to ensure a healthy family and prevent drug-related crimes, according to a local official.

The oil-rich Gulf Kingdom, which says it has been targeted by international drug gangs, mulled plans to enforce drugs tests for couples seeking to marry a few years ago but decided to drop them because of the high costs and the fact that addicts could stop taking drugs about 19 days before tests.

“I think there is a need for such tests for some reasons,” said Saeed Al Sareeha, information director in the Kingdom’s National Counter-drugs Commission.

He said the main reason is that an average seven husbands kill their wives every year because of drug addiction while drugs are responsible for 70 per cent of family violence.

“A third reason is that in many case the wife and children of a drug addict suffer from psychological problems,” he told 'Makka' newspaper.
 

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