Saudi Gazette report DAMMAM — There are conflicting reports surrounding the first reported case of a person who died from listening to so-called digital drugs or binaural beats, Al-Hayat newspaper reported. Four authorities, three of them affiliated to the Ministry of Health, have each given out contradictory statements over the incident. The Ministry of Health itself has not been able to confirm the reports. Al-Amal Mental Health Complex, a group of hospitals specializing in treating drug addicts, said it could not treat digital drug addiction cases. The National Committee of Anti-Drugs (NCAD) said digital drugs, commonly described as a form of alternative medicine that affects the brain through sounds, could be used to treat depression. King Fahd Hospital's mental health unit director Dr. Mona Al-Saraf said the cause of the death was not clear, whether it was due to digital drugs or the symptoms accompanying them such as convulsions. The Kingdom alerted all concerned authorities about digital drugs last week and asked them to take necessary measures to prevent them from reaching the country through the Internet. However, the Ministry of Health admitted it could not identify these drugs quickly and needed more time, which is why it refused to confirm whether someone had died from listening to sounds. Ministry spokesman Dr. Khalid Mirghalani said: “It's not easy to confirm such deaths. “There are 20 areas with 284 hospitals in addition to several primary healthcare centers. These are a lot of health institutions.” NCAD adviser Dr. Nazar Al-Salih said binaural beats are old techniques that use audio vibrations with different frequencies in order to affect the person who listens to them through headphones. Al-Amal Hospital director in Dammam Dr. Muhammad Al-Zahrani said the hospital had not received any such cases, noting he himself had not been informed about the effects of such drugs and how to treat those addicted to them.
