UAE wants parents to play their part in preventing drug use among teenagers

Emirates campaign coincides with day of action and UN report showing that 275 million people used drugs worldwide in past year

The government is keen to have parents take a bigger role in educating teenagers on the problems drug use can bring. Alamy

The importance of good parenting in stopping teenagers from turning to drugs is highlighted by the Department of Community Development (DCD).

The message comes in time for the international day against drug abuse and trafficking, which is marked on June 26 each year.

Dr Bushra Al Mulla, executive director of the Community Development Sector at the DCD in Abu Dhabi, urged parents to communicate with their adolescent children and to educate them about the dangers of drugs.

She said families had to help teenagers cope with strong feelings, emotions and stress, and to monitor their use of social media.

The DCD is partnering with police, customs, and the Ministry of Health and Prevention to mark the event this year in a campaign with the theme "Committed to our Homeland. Drugs are a Crime".

New figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) showed that about 275 million people used drugs worldwide in the past year, and more than 36 million suffered from drug use related disorders.

The agency's annual World Drug Report found that in the last 24 years cannabis potency had increased by as much as four times in some parts of the world, while the perception of it among adolescents as harmful fell by as much as 40 per cent.

This change took place despite evidence that cannabis use is associated with a variety of health and other problems, especially among long-term users.

"Lower perception of drug use risks has been linked to higher rates of drug use, and the findings of UNODC’s 2021 World Drug Report highlight the need to close the gap between perception and reality to educate young people and safeguard public health," said UNODC executive director Ghada Waly.

Doctors at the UAE's National Rehabilitation Centre said more people have been seeking treatment for their drug problems since the coronavirus pandemic started.

They said demand rose every day last year– the first time such an increase had been recorded.

The centre was established in 2002 and now offers a range of online services, which were in great demand during the lockdown.

The increase in web-based services was also noted in the UNODC report, as the authors said the pandemic had led to innovation and adaptation in drug prevention and treatment, including an increase in telemedicine counselling.

However, their recent analysis suggested that the pandemic has also brought a rise in inequality, poverty, and mental health problems – all factors that could push more people around the world into drug use.

In pictures: smuggling in the UAE, ingenious failed attempts

US Customs arrested this Fly Jamaica Airways cabin crew attendant, who was found to have 4kg of cocaine strapped to his legs and concealed under tights and trousers. The haul at New York's JFK Airport would have been worth about $160,000 on the street. Photo: US Customs and Border Protection

Police in Bogata, Colombia arrested this Canadian woman for trying to smuggle 2kg of cocaine on to a Canada-bound flight in September, 2013. The woman pretended to be pregnant and hid the drugs in a latex belly. AFP

This spectacularly conspicuous attempt to smuggle €30,000 of cocaine ended in arrest for a Colombian passenger in July, 2019. The man, 65, concealed one kilo of the illicit powder by gluing it to his head. He was caught when police noticed the height of his black toupee, when his flight from Bogota landed in Barcelona. Photo: Policia Nacional

Australian customs officers foiled this attempt to smuggle the party drug ecstasy into the country, concealed in a Mr Potato Head toy. Officers at Sydney International Mail Centre cracked open the Toy Story figurine and found 293g of the drug in October, 2007. AFP

Portuguese police released this image of multicoloured swim trunks with two brown rubber bags — supposed to look like buttocks — attached. The passenger who was wearing them was caught at the airport in Lisbon, off a flight from Belem in northern Brazil in February 2018. The fake buttocks contained enough cocaine for 5,000 doses. Photo: Portuguese National Police

Guatemalan smugglers were found to have scooped out the cream filling of dozens of vanilla wafers and replaced it with wraps of cocaine. US Customs and Border Protection arrested the Guatemalan passenger carrying them at George Bush Airport in Houston in April 2015. The nearly 2 kilos of cocaine would have a street value of more than $60,000. AP

Few airports in the world will let you through security without removing your shoes, due to the threat from terrorism and to tackle drug smuggling. Australian Customs discovered nearly half a kilo of heroin in the hollowed out soles of these shoes. AFP

Customs officers at Dubai's main airport foiled 155 attempts to smuggle 'talismans and black magic items', related to witchcraft and sorcery, in 2015. Officers said criminals take advantage of often vulnerable people with superstitions. Photo: Dubai Customs

In August 2019, 755kg of methamphetamine was found hidden under frozen cow hide from Mexico. The crystal meth was wrapped in aluminium foil and sandwiched among 18 pallets of hide that arrived in Sydney aboard a shipping container marked 'Salty Bovine Skin'. AFP

Crystal meth wraps are removed from inside hollowed out hardwood flooring at a warehouse in near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in April, 2017. The haul had been shipped from China and had a street value of $681m. AFP

London-based seafood salesman Gilbert Khoo was sentenced to jail at a British court in March, 2020 for smuggling live 'glass eels' to Hong Kong. He was caught with 200kg and the total haul between 2015 and 2017 was worth about $69m. Photo: National Crime Agency

Khoo, pictured holding two pieces of gold, was arrested after Border Force officers seized a consignment at Heathrow Airport. Photo: National Crime Agency

Dubai Police released this image of drugs in a hollowed out book. It was part of a consignment of two tonnes of drugs of various types. A multinational police operation tackled criminal activities related to drug smuggling and trafficking in Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Austria in November 2017. Photo: Dubai Police

A passenger tried to smuggle a whole roasted hog from Peru to Atlanta in November, 2016, for Thanksgiving. US Customs staff seized the hidden pig, which is banned by laws designed to prevent foot and mouth disease and swine fever. Photo: US Customs and Border Protection

Drugs are hidden inside a microwave as seizures are displayed at Dubai Airport in July 2019. Chris Whiteoak / The National

One of the largest drug busts in Dubai's history was made at Jebel Ali Port in May 2019. Sniffer dogs alerted officers to a shipment that was found to contain 5.7 million Captagon pills. Photo: Dubai Police

Captagon is a type of amphetamine originally used for attention deficit disorders, but was banned in the 1980s due to its highly addictive nature. Smugglers in Syria have thrived during the chaos of the war there, and many shipments have been traced to the Arab state. Photo: Dubai Police