Sharjah - Schools and even parents are covering up drug related crimes among students in Sharjah, according to an official who was commenting on a report compiled by the police's Anti-Narcotic Department.

Drug abuse in schools is a real social issue the country has been facing for quite some time. In Sharjah alone, 925 school students have been involved in drug cases in the past three years, according to the report, a copy of which was shown to Khaleej Times by Major Mohammed Ahmed Al Khumairi of the department. He said: "Schools in the emirate were found to be covering up drug cases among students."

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DUBAI - A four-year jail sentence given to a 25-year-old British woman for consuming hashish was overturned on Sunday.

The woman's lawyer, Saeed Al Ghilani, told the Dubai Court of Appeal that his client was prescribed medicinal marijuana because she has bipolar disorder.

"She had been referred by the criminal court to the Rashid Hospital. This hospital is not specialised in evaluating one's mental health. In less than half an hour, they concluded that she was fine and suffers from nothing," said Mr Al Ghilani.

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All efforts are needed to fight use of narcotics in UAE, top official says

Dubai: The UAE is cooperating with countries all over the world in its fight against drugs, Major General Abdul Jalil Mahdi Al Asmawi, director of the anti-narcotics department at Dubai Police, said.

Drug smuggling and the use of drugs in the UAE has become a phenomenon and all efforts are needed to fight it, he said.

Crime statistics for 2013 released on Sunday by Dubai Police show that more than 364kg of illegal drugs, worth millions of dirhams, were seized in Dubai in the past five months, compared with 346kg in the same period of 2012 -- an increase of five per cent.

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The Ministry of Interior has recommended prohibiting the smuggling, possessing and trafficking of 'Spice Drugs' at the 26th Arab Convention of Heads of Anti Narcotics Authorities held in Tunisia on October 3 and 4.

In a paper presented to showcase the experience of the UAE on Spice drugs, it was stated that the UAE has become the first Arab country to illegalise such drugs.

Synthetic cannabis, locally known as spice, affects the mind like hashish does. A panel commissioned with studying Spice recommended to criminalise and prohibit it, including smuggling, possessing, using and trafficking. Possessing Spice has now become a punishable offense by the UAE law. The UAE delegation was led by Colonel Saeed Abdullah Al Suwaidi, Director General of the Federal Anti Narcotics Department of the Ministry of Interior.

During the conference, the country's delegation passed a full report showing the local and international efforts exerted by the UAE to tackle narcotics.

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DUBAI - The families of about 80 convicted Emirati drug addicts received financial aid from The Dubai Islamic Humanitarian Foundation and Dubai Police last year.

A scheme that provides food vouchers worth Dh750-1,000 that can be used in Union cooperatives is to be expanded this year to cover study allowances and medical help and will no longer be limited to the families of drug offenders.

"This aid plays an important role in both protecting other family members from following the same path and preventing recently recovered addicts from re-offending," said Major General Khamis Al Muzeina, the deputy head of Dubai Police.

Yesterday the police signed an Memorandum of Understanding with the foundation in a sign of increasing cooperation between the two bodies

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ABU DHABI // A young man sentenced to life in prison for drug dealing has had his sentence reduced to three years.

F, a Jordanian, tried to sell Dh1,000 worth of hashish to an undercover officer. F, who was 17 when arrested, confessed to the charges.

But the Criminal Court of First Instance decided to try him as an adult under Sharia law and sentenced him to life in prison.

Public Prosecution took the rare step of appealing against the verdict and asking for a lighter sentence, saying drug crimes do not fall under Sharia oversight, unlike adultery, murder or crimes related to alcohol, and the boy should be sentenced as a juvenile.

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