Over 65 percent of the drug addicts who receive detoxification treatment at Al-Amal Hospitals in Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh are Captagon addicts. Another 20 percent are hashish addicts said Abdulilah Sharif, assistant director general of Anti-Narcotics for Protective Affairs. He said the number of the female drug addicts at Al-Amal hospitals has remained constant over the past three years at 220 girls. The Anti-Narcotics General Directorate is currently working to implement the Preventive National Program targeting all five million students in the Kingdom. The goal of the program is to emphasize the harms of drug abuse. Sharif believes most of the contraband smuggled into the Kingdom comes from the Northern Frontiers, Southern Boarders and territorial waters in the Eastern Province. He said the directorate's last report showed that the number of the drug offenses had reached 20,000. About 23 tons of hashish, 112 kg of heroin, 418 tons of Qat and 76,000 Amphetamine pills were captured in different raids by the law enforcement authorities over the course of the year. The largest-ever drug smuggling operation foiled by Jeddah anti-drug police was a shipment of 8 millions pills of Capatgon. Even though the absolute number of cases are down from 2009 levels, the smugglers are using ever-more sophisticated methods to hide their goods. __
