The densely populated areas of Saudi Arabia such as the metropolises of Makkah, Riyadh have the highest number of drug users compared to the border regions of Tabuk and Jazan, according to Saeed Al-Sireeha, director of studies at the National Committee for Narcotics Control (NCNC).

“While the rate of drug use varies between 1.7 percent and 1.8 percent in the high density areas, it drops in Al-Baha, Asir, Hail, Qassim and Al-Madinah due to strong social mores and family control,” he said.

Al-Sireeha lamented the lack of accurate statistics of drug use among women in the Kingdom but the NCNC in cooperation with the National Center for Youth Research did an extensive nationwide study about a year ago which included the extent of use of psychotropic substances among the general categories of young men and women.

Al-Sireeha said that “the findings are very reassuring as the percentage of young people aged 15-29 years who used drugs simply on a trial basis (without addiction) reached approximately 1.6 percent,” adding that the credibility of the questionnaires gave a good indication of the extent of drug use among the youth. However, he confirmed the absence of clear indications despite the fact that the study included about 6,000 women and girls.

“According to the qualitative data, the use of hashish among girls was observed,” Al-Sireeha said. He also said that female college students, particularly those at university, were found smoking in the absence of policies to prevent smoking on the premises.