Labworx

The specialists at Dubai Police were responsible for identifying 16 new synthetic drug varieties in 2022, it has been revealed. The positive announcement was made at the end of last month by the force’s Director of its Forensic Evidence and Criminology department, who reiterated his commitment to keeping pace with all the latest developments in the field.

The discoveries are attributed to the tireless work carried out by Dubai Police’s operatives and experts, as well as their proficiency in analysing chemical substances. In addition to isolating the individual components in a sample, the Drug Observatory Centre is also adept at understanding the negative impacts that such narcotics might have on human health, as well as their more widespread societal ramifications.

16 new substances

Over the course of the last year, Dubai Police toxicologists were able to detect any subtle alterations that drug traffickers may have made to the chemical composition of a substance in an attempt to bypass existing legislation. Not only does this allow them to bring the guilty parties to justice, it also helps to identify potentially new dangerous substances on the streets.

12 of the new substances discovered were synthetic forms of cannabinoids, while they also uncovered two synthetic cathinones (a type of amphetamine) and two derivatives of LSD. By using state-of-the-art equipment and world-leading expertise, the toxicologists were able to thwart the tampering of the original drugs that had been undertaken by traffickers in a bid to evade detection and prosecution.

The human impact

As well as allowing the Dubai Police to do their job and remove these unwanted drugs from society, the Drug Observatory Centre has also taken it upon itself to go one further and investigate the human impact of these new substances. By monitoring the changes in a drug’s chemical makeup, the team can identify potential side-effects of its use.

These can range from increased rate and hallucinations to seizures and even death. By analysing the new drug strains in biological samples taken from patients and suspects, the Centre is able to extrapolate information about how they may affect society at large. As such, they’re providing an invaluable service that is simply not included in the remit of most police forces around the world.

Informing action

As well as increasing their own knowledge of a drug’s prevalence in society and the various forms it takes, these investigative studies can also help to inform policy on a national level. That’s because the data gleaned from their research is compiled into comprehensive reports on the topic, which are in turn sent on to leading authorities and bodies involved in drug control.

This includes entities such as the Supreme Drug Committee, who then have the knowledge they need to include the new substances on banned lists and thus enforce the law against them. Meanwhile, Dubai Police is more than happy to share its expertise with other bodies in the country, up to the point of providing practical training to those new to the field.

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