Law Respect Culture Office: Drugs & Crime; Inseparable Twins

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Saturday, June 29th 2013 [ME NewsWire]: Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Salah Obeid Al Ghoul, Director of Law Respect Culture Bureau; the General Secretariat of His Highness Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior, indicated that drugs and crime are inseparable;  pointing out to  the close connection between drugs and all forms  of crimes in society. Moreover, he called on families to take all necessary measures to protect their children from slipping into this dark tunnel that only brings destruction to families.

In his statement marking the nation's World Anti-Drugs Day celebrations, Lieutenant Colonel Al Ghoul said: “Drugs are a blight that exhausts the resources of society and waste its members' energy and capabilities, which should be used instead to boost society's progress and prosperity. Big amounts of money, which can be better used to bring development and welfare to the nation, are used to fight drugs.”
 
Addressing drug crimes, he explained: “Many crimes are committed by individuals who are under influence of drugs, as they lose ability to think properly and judge rationally. Hallucinations and imaginary thoughts generate anomalous feelings and ideas in the mind of drug abusers towards themselves and others, often leading them to commit suicide or crimes.”

For his part, First Lieutenant Abdullah Al Dahmani, Director of Studies Branch at the Law Respect Culture Bureau, stressed the importance of legal awareness on drug issues, which can yield dangerous impacts on individuals and societies. “Individuals must be aware of the important role of the law in deterring whoever dares to threaten the security,” he explained.

 He added: “The Bureau aims to reach out to all community members, to acquaint them with the legal dimensions of important issues; particularly drugs. The Bureau has released an awareness booklet determining the penalties for crimes dealing with drug abuse.  The booklet is available in all languages spoken in the country.”

Al Dahmani explained: “A significant majority of young people, aged between 12 and 18 years, does not realize the legal risks of dealing with such substances, being young and immature. They are often misled by drug dealers to traffic and use dangerous narcotic substances, to experience a different kind of adventure.  Moreover, young people think that keeping such practices secret among friends, will help them get away unpunished, unaware that law enforcement entities  are on the lookout to punish any drug trafficker or abuser who compromises the future of the nation's citizens. Ultimately, those kids find themselves in juvenile rehabilitation centers, for lacking knowledge of the legal consequences of what they mistook for an innocent childish behavior. ”

 “The penalty stipulated by the Federal Law no. 14 of 1995 on the counter measures against narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, achieves its public deterrent goal against any individual who deals with narcotic substances in any means. Drug possession is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, while drug abuse is punishable by 1-3 years in prison in case of a misdemeanor, and by 4-15 years in case of a crime. Serious crimes yield serious punishments; as trading and trafficking are punished, in many cases, by death penalty, due to their dangerous impacts on social security in the country,” Al Dahmani stated.