DUBAI // A brand of incense designed to smell like cannabis is being sold in supermarkets.
The 'hand-rolled' incense, marketed simply as Cannabis, has been sold in Dubai for several years and its owners say they haven't run into any legal problems.
But psychologists say that teenagers looking to experiment with drugs could try to crush up the incense in a misguided attempt to get high.
"It's messing with children's minds," said Charmaine Van Zyl, a psychologist at the Canadian Medical Centre. "Teenagers like to experiment and want to try new things. That kind of name can be a trigger for them.
"In other countries, because drugs are accessible and they can get hold of it, you only get a minority who go out and do it. But in some respects here you get more who are interested because it's forbidden and intriguing.
"I think if they see the name of that stuff, it will spread like wildfire around schools."
The incense is manufactured by a brand called Hem Corporation, which alongside other traditional scents like lavendar and ylang ylang also produces another type of incense called 'opium'.
"Our cannabis incense sticks are in no way connected to real cannabis and do not contain any ingredient of cannabis," said general manager Kartik Momaya.
"It's just a name that's given, because it smells like that. It's just a synthetic perfume and nothing harmful."
Mr Momaya said the incense has been sold in the UAE for more than 10 years. "It's very popular, we are the number one in this product category."
Dr Sarhan Al Meheini, deputy director of the Police Sciences Academy in Sharjah said it was questionable how the incense could smell like cannabis without having any ingredients of the drug.
"Someone from the police should check up on whether it does contain some kind of cannabis," he said. "If it does not contain cannabis and is not breaking any law then I see nothing wrong with it."
However, Johanna Griffin, an addiction specialist at LifeWorks counseling said children were known to try to abuse common household products found at shops.
The trend of inhaling butane, known as 'huffing', was linked to the death of 17-year-old British student Anton Tahmasian in 2010.
"Teenagers are at that age where they want to experiment," said Ms Griffin. "Particularly here, where they don't have access to conventional drugs, they want to try new things out."
The incense packaging does not contain a list of ingredients. Ms Griffin said that the incense should be clearly labelled as not containing cannabis, so as not to encourage children.
Another psychologist, Dr Raymond Hamden, from the Human Relations Institute, said the fact no disclaimer was on the packaging meant that it could be a powerful placebo.
He said several studies have shown that a placebo substance, which smelt like cannabis when burned, was linked with feelings of intoxication in test subjects.
"If the research applies in this case, then people can get high just off what they think is going to happen," he said.
"The psychologically vulnerable are going to get addicted, just through the psychological effects," he said. "It doesn't always have to be from the physiological effects."
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
THURSDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 10am:
Lucrezia Stefanini v Elena Rybakina (6)
Aryna Sabalenka (4) v Polona Hercog
Sofia Kenin (1) v Zhaoxuan Yan
Kristina Mladenovic v Garbine Muguruza (5)
Sorana Cirstea v Karolina Pliskova (3)
Jessica Pegula v Elina Svitolina (2)
Court 1
Starting at 10am:
Sara Sorribes Tormo v Nadia Podoroska
Marketa Vondrousova v Su-Wei Hsieh
Elise Mertens (7) v Alize Cornet
Tamara Zidansek v Jennifer Brady (11)
Heather Watson v Jodie Burrage
Vera Zvonareva v Amandine Hesse
Court 2
Starting at 10am:
Arantxa Rus v Xiyu Wang
Maria Kostyuk v Lucie Hradecka
Karolina Muchova v Danka Kovinic
Cori Gauff v Ulrikke Eikeri
Mona Barthel v Anastasia Gasanova
Court 3
Starting at 10am:
Kateryna Bondarenko v Yafan Wang
Aliaksandra Sasnovich v Anna Bondar
Bianca Turati v Yaroslava Shvedova
The biog
Name: Timothy Husband
Nationality: New Zealand
Education: Degree in zoology at The University of Sydney
Favourite book: Lemurs of Madagascar by Russell A Mittermeier
Favourite music: Billy Joel
Weekends and holidays: Talking about animals or visiting his farm in Australia
