More families reporting addicted relatives for rehab

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More families reporting addicted relatives for rehab

Abu Dhabi - Under the new law, the offender can be sent to rehab without the case going to court

by

Ismail Sebugwaawo

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Published: Sun 26 Nov 2017, 7:48 PM

Last updated: Sun 26 Nov 2017, 9:53 PM

The number of Abu Dhabi families reporting their drug addicted relatives to authorities has increased since the new amendments to the anti-drugs law were introduced.
The Abu Dhabi public prosecution on Sunday said that since the new law's introduction last year, they have received more than 100 such cases of families seeking treatment for their relatives suffering from addiction problems.
In October last year, the President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, had approved the changes to the original law from 1995, in which the minimum four-year-jail sentence for drug users was reduced to two. The amendment states that illegal drug use is no longer a felony and was downgraded to a misdemeanour.
Under the new law, the attorney general has the power to send an offender to a rehabilitation centre for treatment, without the case going to court and this is after getting advice from police and public prosecutions. A maximum fine of Dh10,000 or community service are among other options courts may impose on serial offenders.
The law also states that if a drug addict is handed over by their family to a rehab facility, police or prosecutors, they face no penalty and will remain in treatment until the centre decides they can be released. Previously, this was the case only if the drug user turned themselves in. The minimum period spent in rehabilitation centres has also been reduced from three to two years.
Mohammed Rashid Al Dhanhani, head of Bani Yas prosecution, said during a meeting with the media at the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department: "Since last year, we have been seeing more cases of families bringing in their addicted relatives for treatment, thanks to the amendment of the law.
"A father or mother can now hand in their son and a wife brings her husband to the police or public prosecution to help them quit drugs, because they know their family members won't be jailed or penalised for using drugs."
The top prosecutor also lauded the reforms to the law, stressing that sending drug addicts to rehabilitation centres for treatment and helping them quit drugs was more significant than making them spend many years in jail, away from their families.
"Jailing someone for long doesn't necessarily mean they quit drugs. But sending them to rehab is more effective, reforming and helping them become responsible members of the community," said Al Dhanhani.
The government is also spending a lot of money on feeding and taking care of inmates and sometimes their families as well. "But if someone is jailed for only two years or made to pay fines or do community work, the government would cut the costs of their imprisonment."
All cases involving the illegal use of drugs are now handled by the Misdemeanour Court and not the Criminal Court of First Instance as the case was before, according to Al Dhanhani.
According to the latest figures released by the judicial authorities, the number of drug addicts sent to rehabilitation centres in Abu Dhabi has increased from 61 cases in 2015-16 to 117 in 2016-17.
The figures also showed that drug cases handled by prosecutors have increased from 1,971 in 2015-16 to 2,182 cases in 2016-17.
The number of people jailed in drug related cases decreased from 1,011 cases in 2015-16 to 958 in 2016-17. Convicts fined in drug related cases, however, increased from 761 cases in 2015-16 to 958 in 2016-17.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com


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