By Kareem Mostafa

In November 2021, on a street in the city of Ismailia, people froze in fear. They watched a man walking down the street holding a head that was cut off from a body. It was a bloody scene that no one could imagine. This man was not a typical criminal. He was both a victim and a killer at the same time. He was a prisoner to the drug "Shabu," which took away his mind and made him do a crime more terrible than imagination. This event, and other horrible crimes in the news, are no longer seen as separate incidents. They are now clear signs of a big and dangerous change in drug addiction in Egypt.

A New Chemical Flood

Today, the conversation is not about traditional or natural drugs like hashish, bango, and opium. The effects of those drugs were connected to feeling lazy and relaxed. Now, there is a powerful wave of man-made, chemical drugs. Materials like methamphetamine (Shabu), Strox, and Captagon have completely changed what addiction looks like. Instead of laziness and isolation, addiction now creates violence, confusion, and a loss of consciousness. It is like the user becomes an animal with no human feelings. These drugs are a direct threat to peace in society and to Egyptian families. This report will look closely at this problem. It will analyze the reasons for this new change, from money and social problems to the growing effect of the media, and the drug smuggling maps that bring these new poisons into the country. The report also shows the high human cost of this problem and the national efforts to fight it.

Shabu (Crystal Meth)... A Devil in Crystal Form

It is known by many names, like "Ice" or "Crystal," but it is one thing: methamphetamine. It is a very strong stimulant for the central nervous system. It works by flooding the brain with huge amounts of "dopamine," the chemical responsible for feeling pleasure. This creates a short-term feeling of joy, energy, and confidence. But this feeling does not last long. It is followed by a sharp mental and physical crash, which makes the user want another dose. This starts a cycle of total dependence and fast addiction. In the short term, Shabu causes sleeplessness, a fast heartbeat, high blood pressure, and paranoia.

In the long term, its destructive effects appear. Users experience weight loss, tooth decay, and brain cell damage, leading to psychosis. Psychosis is a condition where a person loses contact with reality and has hallucinations and delusions. In this state, the addict loses all awareness and may see people around them as enemies or devils. This explains many of the violent crimes connected to this drug.

Strox and Voodoo... The Deadly Chemical

Spell Strox and Voodoo came to the Egyptian market as a "safe herbal alternative" to hashish. But the truth was the opposite. These materials are just a mix of herbs sprayed with a random combination of very dangerous chemicals, which is different from one dealer to another. Some mixes contain ketamine (a drug used to calm animals), atropine, hyoscine, and sometimes deadly materials like insecticides or rat poison.

This randomness makes every dose a "chemical Russian roulette." You don`t know if it will cause a short high or sudden death because you cannot predict its effects like other drugs. Strox causes loss of consciousness, separation from reality, seizures, and strong hallucinations. In some cases, it can lead to sudden respiratory arrest (stopping breathing). Its low price and how easy it is to get helped it spread widely among teenagers and poorer communities, making it one of the deadliest and most common drugs.

Captagon and Tramadol... The Legacy of Pill Addiction

Captagon and Tramadol are the older generation of chemical drugs known in Egypt. Captagon, from the amphetamine family, gives the user a false feeling of power and alertness. It is often smuggled from conflict areas in the Middle East, where making it has become an organized industry. For example, factories for Captagon were found under the Assad regime in Syria, where the Assad family made a fortune from the addiction of young people in Arab countries and beyond. As for Tramadol, it started as a medical painkiller for chronic pain but slowly became a popular street drug because of its calming effect and how easy it was to get in the past.

Even with police crackdowns that made them less available publicly, Captagon and Tramadol are still on the black market. They are a "pill legacy" that is hard to remove completely. The change from calming drugs to stimulants and hallucinogens shows a dangerous shift in users` motivations. The goal is no longer to passively escape, but to find fake energy or a complete break from reality.

Between Pressure and Mental Breakdown: The Psychological and Social Reasons

Experts believe the new wave of addiction shows a change in the psychology and social structure of users. With growing economic pressures, fewer job opportunities, and increasing feelings of frustration and helplessness, finding a "chemical escape" became the fastest way to run away from a hard reality. But the irony is that these drugs, said to give energy and confidence, turn their users into human ghosts who have no control and only know violence or delirium.

A Battle of Awareness Before Security

The Egyptian government and its anti-drug agency are fighting this problem on all levels.

Legislatively, punishments for trading and making new drugs have been made stricter.

In terms of security, there are large campaigns to stop smuggling and distribution networks.

For awareness, the Fund for Drug Control and Treatment has launched field and media campaigns to teach people about the danger of these poisons, along with psychological support and rehabilitation programs for recovering addicts. Government addiction treatment centers also offer free and confidential services to tens of thousands of cases every year.

But experts say the fight is not just about security. It is mainly a cultural and community issue. It starts with the family, the school, and the media, and ends with building values of awareness and support instead of shame and isolation.

 The Blood That Speaks

Today, chemical drugs are more than a health crisis; they are a threat to the future of Egyptian society. They are a mirror that reflects economic pain, social cracks, and a growing psychological emptiness. If this problem is not faced with science, mercy, and awareness, along with the law, we might wake up one day to a new tragedy that reminds us of the Ismailia scene... where a man walked with a severed head, not knowing that what he held in his hand was not just his victim`s head, but a symbol of a society suffering under the influence of new poisons.