Dubai: The main reason for several women becoming drug addicts in Dubai is their relationship with men who are already addicts, a senior official of Dubai Police said.
Amal Al Fuqaie, a rehabilitation specialist at the Anti-Narcotics Department who works closely with addicts, said about 80 per cent of cases of addicted women she has witnessed is because of their relationship with addicted men.
“There are many reasons behind women’s addiction in Dubai like bad friends, social media and marriage disputes, but the main reason is their relationship with male addicts. Women are being deceived into addiction because of it,” Al Fuqaie said.
In one of the recent incidents, a young woman got married to a drug addict without knowing the man’s addiction and she also became an addict. The woman insisted on getting a divorce so she could come out of her addiction, said Al Fuqaie.
“Family disputes are also a major reason. Recently, a girl was adversely affected by her parents’ divorce and she had to live in different houses because of that including her aunt’s house. Later, she met a drug addict and she became an addict too. She got arrested later at the age of 21.”
Al Fuqaie said that shattered families are a major reason for children’s addiction too, as they are affected badly when their parents don’t look after them properly.
“An Arab man married twice and had children before divorcing the two wives. He married a third woman and neglected his children who were in their teens. Some children started smoking and then got into drugs. Two of them landed in jail and the third is still in a rehabilitation centre,” Al Fuqaie added.
She urged the parents to watch their children especially during divorce time and to stay close to them as much as possible.
Case study
A girl stayed with her aunt after her parents were divorced and she met a group of friends and had a relationship with one of them who was a drug addict. She also became a drug addict until she was arrested. Her father did not show any sympathy when she was arrested and neglected her. After she completed her jail time, she had a rehabilitation programme for one year to make sure she was cured.
