20% rise in drug addiction among women

Saudis form 54 percent of drug users in the Kingdom and drug addiction among women increased 20 percent during the past few years, Tahani Al-Kaukabi, head of World Anti-Drug Day activities, was quoted as saying in the local media.
Al-Kaukabi said the number has increased by 320 cases and that 55 percent of drug addicts are aged between 19 and 30 years.
She said around 200 million people around the world use drugs once a year, 25 million of them are addicts, while about 200,000 die from diseases associated with drugs.
She pointed out that three million people, who take drugs through injection around the globe, suffer from AIDS.
Dr. Mahdi Al-Anzi of the Riyadh Health Department commended efforts exerted in devising therapeutic and prevention programs at the sections of the psychological and social service in hospitals.
Meanwhile, Suhaila Zainul Abedeen of the National Society for Human Rights stressed the rights of patients to have due treatment and follow-up, and their efforts to prevent young people from falling into the scourge of drugs.
The event was supported by Director-General of Health Affairs in Riyadh Adnan bin Sulaiman Al-Abdulkarim, with participation of Al-Amal Hospital.
The General Directorate for Drug Control warned the Kingdom’s young men and women against the use of a new drug called “Cloud 9,” indicating that this is ten times more harmful than natural drugs.
Col. Ahmed Al-Faris said his department has addressed the competent authorities for the need to prohibit and criminalize the use of such drugs that lead to hallucinations and induces criminal behavior.
There is growing use of such drugs, which are manufactured in a number of Western countries, and the Kingdom should guard against their entry, he was quoted by a local newspaper as saying.