JEDDAH, 12 July 2006 — A distraught Saudi woman, whose husband and eldest son are heroin addicts, arrived at a Jeddah hospital asking for help in curing her partner and son.
The woman told doctors and nurses at Al-Amal Hospital that her wealthy drug-addict husband had slowly manipulated her eldest son into also becoming a drug addict and was responsible for ruining the family, the daily Al-Watan reported yesterday. The woman explained that when police became suspicious of both father and son, her husband began using their youngest son to go and buy drugs.
Hospital employees say they witnessed the woman being threatened with divorce after she admitted their eldest son into hospital. The father also told the woman that he would stop supporting her financially if she left their son in hospital.
Dr. Muneer Al-Sosi, a doctor at Al-Amal Hospital, said that the hospital receives a lot of strange drug-related cases and it is common for men to drag their wives and children into the murky world of drugs.
“There isn’t much awareness about the harms of drugs among lay people. Thousands of people visit hospitals and clinics to fight their addictions,” said Al-Sosi, adding that his hospital could no longer accommodate the large number of drug addicts that come.
Al-Sosi explained that the hospital regularly receives cases where many members in a family have become addicted to drugs because of their relatives. He said, “I received a case where a family brought their daughter whose husband had driven her into drug abuse. Her husband had dropped her off at her parents’ home after her condition deteriorated.”
Al-Sosi believes that an increase in awareness is what is generally driving people to seek help in fighting drug addictions. “Speed pills are the most common drugs used by people, followed by hashish,” said Al-Sosi. He said heroin addiction was not so common because of widespread drug awareness.
“Out of every hundred patients coming to Al-Amal Hospital, 80 are aged between 18 and 30, 10 percent below the age of 18, five percent between 30 and 50, and another five percent over the age of 50,” said Al-Sosi.
