Former drug user cautions against dokha

Drug-free Emirati speaks of the perils of adding substances to dokha.

One recovering drug addict says he believes smoking dokha in a medwakh pipe is a gateway to drugs. Ryan Carter / The National

ABU DHABI // A former recreational drug user said he spent most of his life trying to get high, only for regrets to follow.

Mubarak, a 27-year-old Emirati, used drugs throughout his teenage years. After a long period in rehabilitation, he is now “clean”.

“I’ve been drug-free for almost nine months now,” he said. “My life was spiralling out of control but my family’s intervention and firm support have enabled me to break my drug habit.

“I’ve been keeping up with my recovery and, most importantly, my Narcotics Anonymous meetings to deal with my triggers [for taking drugs].

“I know that it’s going to be a lifelong struggle.”

Starting with cigarettes at age 13, Mubarak moved on to drinking alcohol and smoking dokha. He then graduated to hard drugs such as cocaine, which he used when he was living in the United States.

“I do think that dokha is a gateway drug. You never find a drug user who’s a yogi and eats organic food,” he said.

“You start with something a little bad and then it has a snowball effect. I smoked for a while but then you get creative, trying to get a bigger high out of the smoke. You spend your life chasing highs until you end up with no life at all.

Mubarak was surprised when he read about people smoking a blend of marijuana with dokha tobacco.

“It did cross my mind that people might be adding other drugs to the mixture,” he said.

Mubarak had been mixing tobacco with various drugs as well in his efforts to get to “that happy high place”.

“My friends and I did smoke some prescription drugs added to the tobacco mix,” he said. “It didn’t always feel good. There were times when you would feel sick and nauseous. It’s not always a nice high but that’s how it is with drugs.”

He warned people not to experiment with drugs at all. “It becomes big before you know it. It’s a slippery slope,” he said.

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Tobacco shop owners dismissed rumours that marijuana-infused dokha tobacco was available for sale, saying that strict regulatory oversight made that impossible. When rumours started to circulate in local media this month, Dubai Police conducted tests on the dokha tobacco used in medwakh pipesonly to find no traces of marijuana. Despite strict regulation, the number of teenagers and adults being charged over possessing “dokha mixes” is rising, lawyers say.

Read more:

■ UAE smoke shop owners insist their dokha is pure

■ Legal cases of dokha mix possession on the rise in UAE