Kuwaiti Delegation Praises UAE Efforts to Criminalize Synthetic Drugs

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – June 30, 2013 (ME NewsWire): The Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Health discussed with a Kuwaiti delegation ways to enhance cooperation and exchange expertise regarding combatting narcotics and psychotropic substances.

Dr. Amin Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Medical Practices and Licensing, and Chairman of the Higher Committee on the Federal Law's appended drug table, met the delegation at the Ministry of Health headquarters in Dubai. Committee member, Colonel Abdul Rahman Al Owais, Deputy Director General of Anti-Drug Federal Directorate General, attended the meeting.

Dr. Al Amiri delivered a presentation to the delegation, which included officers from drug fighting units, and forensic laboratoryand customs departments. The presentation addressed field and lab procedures as well as legal and procedural mechanisms that were followed in order to include‘spice', a synthetic drug, into the law's tables. The UAE was the first, both regionally and internationally, to include this synthetic drug within its drug law.

“The UAE is one the first countries in the world, and the first Arab and GCC country, to detect and realize the risks of abusing this substance,” Dr. Al Amiri said.

Colonel Al Owais explained the detection measures used at anti-drug units in the countryto report newly-arrived drugs before they reach the hands of drug users.

He said: “This cooperation reflects our belief that GCC countries form one inseparable entity; the UAE will not hesitate to share its expertise in detecting and criminalizing new drugs with its sister countries across the GCC. The UAE has presented its experience in criminalizing ‘spice' at regional and international events.  We have received admiration for how fast we were able to detect the substance's compound, as well as the seamless procedures undertaken to include it into our drug tables.”

At the joint meeting with the Ministry of Health, participants agreed to report technical and legal basics and standards, which were used to include ‘spice'  as a drug, to the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior. This will enable them to include this drug into their drug tables.

During the visit, the delegation was briefed on lab systems used at the Forensic Evidence Department at the Abu Dhabi Police. Colonel Abdul Rahman Al Hammadi, Department Head, joined the delegation on a tour of the laboratories specializing in drug testing. He briefed delegates on FEDLIMS, a modern-technology e-system, which is the result of comprehensive compatible fusion between the LIMS system and the FED system. It is a daily task operations system on forensic evidence. The Forensic Evidence Department is the first department in the region to have FEDLIMS.

The Kuwaiti delegation also visited the Forensic Evidence and Criminology General Department at the Dubai Police, where they were introduced to standard lab tests carried out by the Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology Section at the Forensic Laboratory. Colonel Chief Expert, Ahmed Matar Al Muhairi, Deputy General Manager, Administrative Affairs and Chairman of Scientific Committee on new synthetic drugs, welcomed the Kuwaiti delegation.

Colonel Chief Expert Khalid Al Sumaiti, Acting Chief of Chemistry Section, delivered a lecture on the steps required to analyze new synthetic drugs in order to define the chemical compound and its receptors in biological samples. He also addressed steps to include such substances into tables appended to the Federal Law on dangerous substances.

In this context, the Scientific Committee and the visiting delegation held a discussion session on ways to cooperate in this field.

The Chairman of the Kuwaiti delegation, Lt. Colonel Mohammed Mustafa from the Kuwaiti Drug Control General Department expressed his admiration of the UAE's expertise in criminalizing synthetic drugs and highlighted possibilities to implement such methods in his country. He extended his gratitude to the Anti-Drug Federal Directorate General at the Ministry of Interior, as well as to the Chairman of Higher Committee on reviewing drug tables at the Ministry of Interior and the Forensic Evidence and Criminology General Department at Dubai Police for the knowledge and expertise they offered to the delegation.