Dubai Police did not uncover marijuana in their tests on tobacco used in medwakh pipes.
Dokha tobacco is usually mixed with herbs and spices and smoked in the UAE and Oman. In Arabic, dokha means dizziness.
The police’s forensic science department tested four samples, said Col Fahd Al Mutawa, director of the general department of forensic evidence and criminology.
In their efforts to quell a rumour circulating in the local media that the tobacco contained drugs, police also retested a urine sample from Al Garhoud Private Hospital, used in a previous study, and examined the hospital’s drug-testing procedures.
The hospital’s urine drug test strips change colour according to whatever drugs are present in a sample, and show the results quickly. But they are inaccurate and unreliable, according to Col Al Mutawa.
The urine sample that police tested only showed traces of licensed drugs.
Dubai’s Department of Economic Development bought 10 tobacco samples from six randomly selected shops and provided them to Dubai Police for testing.
All the samples tested negative for narcotics.
But despite the results, Col Al Mutawa said police did not defend the use of medwakh.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
