Dubai: The 12th edition of the Hemaya International Forum, which brings together experts in the field of combating drugs from different countries each year to share their expertise, will take place on September 26-28.

This year’s forum is titled ‘Regional and National role to control simulators (Amphetamines and Captagon)’, said Maj Gen Mohammad Saeed Al Merri, director of the Directorate of Community Service at Dubai Police, at the press conference announcing the conference.

This year, the forum is expected to have around 300 participants from more than 15 countries.

Participating countries include the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Egypt Palestine and all the GCC countries.

Maj Gen Al Merri added that most of the participants who are from the police forces in their respective countries are high-ranking officials.

The annual forum, which is organised by Dubai Police, is in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), among other agencies such as The Arab Interior Minister Council.

“This is the 12th edition, which is testament of the success of this conference and its importance,” he said.

The focus this year is in line with the results of the UNODC’s World Drug Report 2016, which indicated that there is an increase in seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) worldwide.

“For the past few years, methamphetamine seizures have accounted for the largest share of global ATS seizures annually, but, although methamphetamine is a feature of ATS markets worldwide, it is particularly dominant in East and South-East Asia and North America,” the report said.

Colonel Ebrahim Al Dabal, director of the international training services at the General Department for Community Service at Dubai and the forum’s general coordinator, said that drugs continue to be a big issue worldwide as, according to the UNODC report, it is estimated that 1 in 20 adults, or a quarter of a billion people between the ages of 15 and 64 years, used at least one drug in 2014.

He also said the forum includes sessions on social and health effects of using stimulants, international efforts to monitor amphetamines and captagon and real-life experiences and challenges on reducing the demand for amphetamines and stimulants.

More than 20 outstanding students of this year’s 66 students who have passed the E-diploma on combating drugs will be honoured on the sidelines of the forum.

The forum will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City, Dubai.