ABU DHABI — Every year, patients getting admitted at the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) increase between 20 to 30 per cent, majority of whom are drug users, said Dr Ahmed Yousif Ali, medical director at the centre.
“We see more people seeking drugs. Over 65 per cent of the hundred patients we saw in 2010 are poly-substance (mixing three different types of drugs) users,” said Dr Ali who attributed the annual increase to the centre’s efforts in reaching out to those with addiction problems, as well as, to the country’s law which helps addicts to get treatment.
“The law of the land, Article 14 of 1995, stipulates that they can present themselves to a treatment facility,” Dr Ali told reporters on the sidelines of the announcement of the drug dependence treatment and care programme in the UAE and the region on Monday.
The programme is based on the joint global programme by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime and the World Health Organisation (UNODC-WHO) that was modified to fit into the Arabic culture. It was part of the collaborative agreement signed by the NRC and the illicit drugs and international crime-fighting organisation in October last year.
The objective of this partnership is to expand UNODC-WHO drug dependence treatment and care programme into the region through NRC as its regional partner.
The joint programme encompasses providing access to drug dependence treatment to the Arab region through NRC as the treatment hub. It also involves developing NRC human resources though international exposure and cross training; implementation of innovative drug use prevention interventions for specific populations that are underserved; develop protocols for evaluation of treatment outcomes, support the sustainability of treatments; and enhance visibility of the need of universal access to drug dependence treatment.
The programme also focuses on carrying out research to determine the extent of drug addiction problem in the UAE in order to develop an evidence-based prevention programme to target and protect the most vulnerable group of the society — the students.
“We can be successful in our fight against drugs only if we have a comprehensive strategy,” said Yury Fedotov, executive director of UNODC, noting that an international strategy is required to curb illegal drug trafficking and other forms of organised crimes such as corruption,
money laundering and international terrorism.
Asked if the UAE is becoming an alternative route of trafficking drugs to other countries, Fedotov said drugs are trafficked all over the world, depending on the demand, “but we have to prevent any possibility of using the ports of the UAE as a hub,” he said.