JEDDAH, 29 September 2005 — Female students at all levels of education in the Kingdom are to face unannounced drug searches, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported yesterday.
The move comes following the Ministry of Education’s discovery that some girls were taking tranquilizers.
The deputy minister for girl’s education issued a circular calling for the searches after several reported cases of girls taking “qishta,” the slang term for a pill prescribed for anxiety and insomnia.
Teachers who detect any signs of the drug’s usage are to report the students, who will then be searched by female security staff.
The report said the pill was being smuggled into the Kingdom and sold by illegal expats.
An earlier report in the local media said that the popularity of the pill was in part due to its low price.
