Dubai: A chief prosecutor Tuesday warned that people found misusing medical prescriptions to avail mind-altering drugs to which they are addicted will be prosecuted.
"Any individual who misuses a controlled medical prescription to take a mind-affecting substance such as anti-depressant, medical relaxant or painkiller for addiction purposes and not for medical purposes will be prosecuted and referred to the Dubai Misdemeanours Court," Chief Prosecutor Waleed Khalifa Al Fuqai'i, Head of Drugs Prosecution at Dubai Public Prosecution, told a media gathering yesterday.
"We have come across a number of cases in which investigations revealed that the suspects misused the controlled medical prescription and used the medicine prescribed to them out of addiction and to alter their mental state. Currently, the Drugs Prosecution is investigating 44 cases; meanwhile, 10 cases were referred to the aforementioned court," he said.
Such mind-altering medicines are prescribed by doctors to treat depression, anxiety symptoms and pain, Al Fuqai'i said.
Disturbing trend
"We noticed recently that some individuals are addicted to those mind-altering substances. To those individuals, I am sending out a very strict warning that they will be taken to court if they abuse the prescriptions for addiction purposes. Recently we won four cases in which four defendants were jailed for one year each after the Misdemeanour Court convicted them of consuming a mind-altering substance. In the charge sheet, we ask the court to implement articles 34, 41 and 65 of the Anti-Narcotics Law. We also ask the court to deport expatriate suspects," he said.
"Currently, we are concentrating on combating this particular crime… abusing mind-altering substances leads to different dangerous and life-threatening health hazards. We are very serious, more than ever before, in combating this phenomenon. Any suspect will be automatically referred to court, if proven during the investigation, that he/she took the mind-altering substance due to addiction," he said the chief prosecutor.
He announced that his team of nine prosecutors referred 752 drugs cases to court. "We won 80 per cent convictions in those cases," he added.
Al Fuqai'i said his section cooperated closely with Dubai Police's Anti-Narcotics Department to combat drug-related crimes.
