Capital Punishment for Drug Offenders in Saudi Arabia

Capital punishment is regulated by the international law. According to Article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that the penalty of death may only be applied to the ‘most serious crimes’. However it seems that there is a loophole in the application of capital punishment as some states have classified some crimes that should not punished by death as most serious crimes. Over the past twenty-five years UN human rights bodies have interpreted Article 6(2) in a manner that limits the number and type of offences for which execution is allowable under international human rights law. This is an attempt by the UN to reduce punishment by death. Capital punishment should be rarely used. However there are some countries that have classified drug offenses as ‘most serious crimes’ and this has created a hell on earth for drug addicts. The UN however does not support the view by retentionist governments that drug offenses are part of the ‘most serious crimes’. The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, both of which have stated that drug offences do not constitute ‘most serious crimes’ and that executions for such offences are therefore in violation of international human rights law.

High commitment states

In recent years there has also been increasing support for the belief that capital punishment in any form violates the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as enshrined in numerous UN and regional human rights treaties. However some countries that are high commitment states have viewed this policy as a foreign construct and views capital punishment as both accepted cultural and religious norm.

Capital Punishment

The most notorious high commitment states include Saudi Arabia, China and Malaysia among others. In a 2007 report on a research done by International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) on the death penalty for drug offences, it is evident that, despite the global trend towards abolition of capital punishment, the number of states expanding their domestic death penalty legislation to include narcotics offences had actually increased over the past two decades.

China has been long known as a high commitment state but just like it Saudi Arabia has also been execute drug offenders in high numbers on a yearly basis. Saudi Arabia has since enforced a mandatory death sentence for anyone caught supplying or receiving drugs from abroad. Drug delinquents make up a substantial portion of those condemned to die and those who are actually executed. Rather than being an exceptional occurrence, executions for drug crimes seem a standardized part of the criminal justice process.

Dangerous spot for addicts

Capital punishment for drugs was first introduced in 1987 In Saudi Arabia and since then the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has become a dangerous spot for drug addicts. Unfortunately, the government does not publish its official clarification of sharia law or an informative text, therefore judicial discretion is substantially broad. The death sentence may be enforced for many different reasons such as trafficking in drugs and narcotics, receiving drugs and narcotics from a trafficker, bringing in, growing or receiving drugs and narcotics in cases other than licensed under the law, being an accomplice in any of these acts and circulating drugs and narcotics for the second time by selling, transporting or distributing under the condition that an established previous ruling has been pronounced indicting him for circulation for the first time.

Despite the strict rules that govern the use of drugs in Saudi Arabia alcohol use in predominantly Muslim regions of the world has increased by 25 percent between 2005 and 2010. There are many psychosocial factors that lead to the problem of alcohol use and abuse in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However it is not easy to offer an exact estimate of the rate of alcohol use in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia because of the absence of consistent statistical reports.

Capital Punishment

The first execution for drugs in Saudi Arabia was recorded by Amnesty International on July 29th 1987 and the nine following executions before the end of 1987. Since then, Saudi Arabia has established into one of the world’s most hostile executors for drug crimes. It has been reported that about 60 percent of all prisoners in Saudi Arabia are there for drug use or drug trafficking. There are no bars or liquor stores in the entire country of Saudi Arabia. And this means that getting alcohol in Saudi Arabia is a problem. To anybody traveling to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia it is prohibited to carry alcohol or other narcotics with you. And anybody found in possession of any drug as you are getting into Saudi Arabia faces the full wrath of the law.

Alcoholism is a vice that should be fought by all means that is why we at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are committed to availing help to addicts and offering them a place to call home. We offer NER Treatment and Amino acid therapy that are the most effective approaches to addiction treatment and recovery. You call on Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) today and begin your journey to victory against addiction.

Capital Punishment for Drug Offenders in Saudi Arabia

Fermented Milk Boosts Skin Health

December 7, 2014

Fermented Milk Boosts Skin Health

fermented milk The human skin is the largest organ and an essential excretory pathway too. All that biology aside, the skin is the most immediate point of contact with the outside world and a woman for instance would do or give anything just to have a beautiful lustrous skin. Well that is not a strange thing, beauty is such a worthy aspect of humanity.

Funny thing, different folks have had their unique ways of approaching the skin health. Some traditional and others contemporary. While the market is flooded with all the lotions and gels with some such as Nivea using the term ‘moisturizing’ as a key selling point, other people, more traditional in their ways, have for a long time depended on milk in various ways to realize some really beautiful glowing skin. There is definitely something in milk, isn’t there?

But the question is, what is this ‘thing’ in milk that these women targeted for the beauty of their skin? Today there is growing evidence indicating that if you consume milk products refined with probiotic bacteria, you can end up with not only a healthy gut, but also a nice healthy skin.

This is not entirely a new idea in the scientific marketplace. Scientists have for a long time suspected that the health of the human skin and gut health are rather interrelated. Simply looked at, the lining of the mammalian gastrointestinal tract is somewhat an extension of the actual skin. In this manner, the bacteria on the skin surface find their way with ease to the surface of the gut.

In terms of immunity and the general health, one mechanism that has been identified by medical practitioners of maintaining the intestinal health involves boosting the probiotics (good bacteria). Good because these bacteria help to keep bad microbes in check as they naturally inhabit the gut. Bifidobacteria and lactobacilli are examples of these good bacteria and are used for instance in the food industry. Their purpose here is typically to make refined milk products like yogurt.

Unveiling the Gut Phenol Guard

A number of recent studies by a Japanese probiotic milk pioneer has reported evidence indicating the beneficial effects of fermented milk on the general skin health. This was from some test samples containing Bifidobacterium, a bacterium found in fermented milk.

The researchers compared the effects of the fermented milk against those of a non-fermented placebo milk in a clinical test. Two clusters of healthy Japanese women were given the milk and various parameters later measured in those women’s urine, blood and the level of hydration of their skin.

Four weeks later, the women who had been subjected to drinking the placebo milk were having significantly drier skin as compared to their colleagues who drank the fermented milk.

Based on the results of this study, the Japanese scientists deduced that the women who drank the fermented milk had lower levels of phenols in their blood and urine. Phenols are a group of noxious by-products emitted by some gut bacteria during proteins digestion.

Phenols are often absorbed from the gut to some extent, taken through blood circulation and eventually excreted from the body via the urine. In this process though, the phenols may often build in the skin as they are carried along with the blood. Prior studies have shown this happen to the skin of mice. And for the human skin, lab tests have shown that these toxins disturb the skin cells’ production of keratin 10, a major skin protein responsible for strengthening the skin’s barrier function.

People with a troubled gut environment have typically been reported to have high levels of these toxic substances known as phenols. The Japanese scientists associate problems such as skin dryness to high levels of these phenols produced by particular gut bacteria.

Consequently the researchers recommend daily intake of fermented milk rich in probiotics as an antidote to the problem of dry skin. This according to them could help maintain healthy skin by encouraging a conducive gut environment which will suppress the production of the toxins. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), these probiotics (found in fermented milk) are live microorganisms which have the capacity to confer a health benefit to the host when administered in adequate amounts.

fermented milk

Further Skin Health Benefits

Aside from the fight against phenols, fermented milk has been found to have a host of other benefits to the skin. Other studies have indicated that the milk may help assuage dermatitis (inflammation of the skin) while reducing water loss from the skin of the individual.

The fermented milk contains a number of biologically active peptides. Peptides are compounds consisting of two or more amino acids that are linked in a chain. These fermented milk peptides are produced in the process of fermentation. Here a bacterium known as lactobacilli chew down certain milk proteins converting them into the peptides.

Sebum, oily secretion of the sebaceous glands in the skin, has been reported to get stabilized by intake of fermented milk. Taking fermented milk increases the hydration levels of the skin of young women due to increased levels of sebum in the skin.

The studies indicate that the age and hormone levels influence the working of the fermented milk in influencing sebum production. Even better, the milk helps check the effects of sebum that could result in acne if in high amounts. This applies to both men and women. The acne alleviation effect on skin is attributed to a milk protein called lactoferrin.

Given its anti-inflammatory effects on the skin, fermented milk helps in improving g the skin luster making it glossy and radiant. The effect results from combined properties of increased sebum and an acidic skin pH.

At AwareMed, we care about the health of your skin and continue to provide you with these and more health insights for your wellness.