The National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) organised a seminar, held on February 7-8, 2010, on the treatment of drug addiction. The NRC conducted a scientific seminar on the themes of drug addiction prevention methods adopted scientifically, and treatment of drug addicts in the correctional facilities. The Seminar had key speakers from the United States National Institute for Addiction Science and Research, as well as judges from the US Department of Justice. 
Held with the support of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, the seminar sought to develop specialised treatment programmes for those convicted in drug abuse cases. 

The Director General of the Centre, Dr Hamad Abdullah Al Ghafri, explained that the NRC seeks, through this seminar, to develop a specialised major basis for the integrated and effective management of treatment programmes to the category of employees of the criminal justice systems, and lay the foundation for the development of legal frameworks and judicial legislative and executive support of the integrated treatment programmes for addicts convicted of drug abuse issues. Further proposed was the concept of a drug court. 

On behalf of those attending the seminar, Dr Ghafri praised HH Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, for his generous gesture of approving a draft mechanism for issuing certificates to examine the situation of those with previous criminal records pertaining to drug addiction by reducing, in certain circumstances, the time to extract the certificate from two years to six months, and giving the NRC the authority to issue medical reports in such cases. 

 

According to Dr Ghafri, the two-day seminar was to discuss the two main themes, which were:

1.Providing treatment within the criminal justice system and legal frameworks, which is one of the major challenges in addressing the problems of addiction. 

2. Prevention. 

The first topics raised at the seminar were the concept of addiction as a chronic disease of the brain and the interdependence of the axis of crime and the foundations to provide programmes and interventions and treatment modalities evidence scientifically. 

The role of the judiciary and the legal system through the experience of drug courts in the United States were offered as an example, along with discussion on how to adapt and take advantage locally of this model. 

The seminar discussed the role of the community in supporting the recovery process, through its governmental and non-governmental organisations. In a related development, the seminar discussed, on the second day, the themes of prevention by discussing the burden of addiction from the social, economic and security standpoints, and the importance of close supervision and follow-up to guide prevention and treatment interventions. 

The seminar then addressed the basics and principles of how prevention is applied scientifically, and how to apply and measure effectiveness by focusing on prevention in the family and school. For his part, Dr Hisham Al Arabi Head of the NRC's Research and Health Education Section, stated that the primary objective of this seminar is to create a treatment programme for addicts in the penal institutions in order to ensure that while they are being held in prison, they are treated as addicts, criminal prisoners and patients at the same time. 

Meanwhile, attendee at the seminar and the Head of Psychology and Counselling at the UAE University, Dr. Fadwa Mogherbi, stated that those present were pleased to learn of the most important discoveries made in regard to the treatment of drug addict patients in the West, and she asked that the UAE should work together with various institutions in order to best treat drug addicts.