Cairo - Egyptian cannabis seizures more than quadrupled in 2006, said the country's top anti-drugs official on Monday.
"The problem is increasingly acute," Anti-Narcotic General Administration (Anga) chief Ahmed Kamaleddin Samak said as he presented his agency's annual report.
More than five tons of cannabis were seized by police in 2006, in what he said was a 336% increase from the previous year.
The number of arrests, seizures and other operations carried out by the interior ministry also soared by 30% during the same period, said the report.
"The global increase in consumption... and the proximity of conflict zones facilitating drug trafficking" are among the main factors accounting for this surge, said Samak.
According to the UN office on drugs and crime, Egypt's strategic location "makes it a potential transit point for trafficking of heroin and cannabis from major production areas in South East Asia to European markets".
Samak said his agency was due to present by June a 20-year plan to combat drugs by tackling money-laundering, launching public awareness campaigns and eradicating cultivation.
Anga was established in 1929 and is the world's oldest drug control agency.
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ok, this is what I am not sure about, in egypt they always talk about hashish being used (or smoked?), what we in the states call Hash, but isn't Hash the left over remains of cannibis (marijuiana) ? so people are smoking someone else's left over black (or brown?) tarry left over marijuiana for a high and addicted to it? Is that normal or are they using it in some other way here.... ?
annie_81 Member # 4149
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you are partially right: Hashich is the resinous substance that comes from mariajuana. It is isnt the "smoked left over", that would be ash, not hash. its what comes out of the plant, like needle trees. However, I dont exaclty know how they extract it.
Dalia* Member # 10593
posted Hash is made from tetrahydrocannabinol-rich glandular hairs known as trichomes, as well as varying amounts of Cannabis flower and leaf fragments. The flowers of a mature female plant contain the most trichomes, though trichomes also occur on other parts of the plant. Certain strains of Cannabis are cultivated specifically for their ability to produce large quantities of trichomes, and are thus called hash plants.
The resin reservoirs of the trichomes (sometimes erroneously called pollen) are separated from the plant via various methods. The resulting concentrate is formed into blocks of hashish, which are easily stored and transported without degrading the THC content due to oxidation.
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