The most common drugs in the Arab world and Egypt, and their street names

What are the most common drugs in the Arab world?

The most common drugs in the Arab world, and those most widespread among young people in Egypt, can be grouped into six families, instead of trying to memorize dozens of names: natural cannabis (hashish and bango), synthetic cannabinoids (strox and voodoo), stimulants (shabu and captagon), opioids (tramadol and heroin), sedatives and "nerve pills" (Rivotril and Lyrica), and a final group made up of khat, inhalants and alcohol. Street names change from one country to the next and from one year to the next, but the family is the key: it determines the type of risk, what withdrawal looks like and how treatment works.

Globally, the UNODC World Drug Report 2026 estimates that 331 million people used a drug in 2024, or 6.2% of the world's population aged 15 to 64. Cannabis remains by far the most widely used (256 million people), followed by opioids (63 million) and then amphetamines (32 million).

This article is not an introduction to these substances. It is here to help you recognize a name you have heard, work out which family it belongs to, and know the next step. You will not find any description of appearance, amounts or ways of using here.

A quick map: what is actually widespread in each part of the Arab world

Precise figures for each Arab country on its own are not always available, so this map relies mainly on what the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports at the regional level in its 2026 report:

• Africa as a whole: 74 million people used a drug in 2024, or 8.6% of people aged 15 to 64 on the continent. Cannabis was used by 7.5% of the same age group, and most people who seek treatment there do so because of cannabis or opioids.
• North Africa (including Egypt): the report still counts the non-medical use of tramadol and codeine as a threat, above all in North Africa and in West and Central Africa.
• The scale of the tramadol problem: Africa alone accounted for 97% of the world's tramadol seizures between 2020 and 2024.
• The Levant, the Gulf and Iraq (the Near and Middle East): captagon remains one of the most prominent substances of concern, methamphetamine (shabu) use is rising alongside it, and non-medical tramadol use has also spread to this region.
• East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula: khat is a stimulant plant widely used in East Africa, and it topped the continent's seizures of new psychoactive substances between 2020 and 2024. The UK drugs advice service FRANK notes that it is used mainly in north-east Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
• Age of people in treatment: 34% of people receiving treatment for drug use disorders in Africa are under 25, compared with 20% in the Near and Middle East and South and South-West Asia combined.

Keep in mind that "widespread" does not mean "most dangerous": a less common substance can harm the person using it much faster. Don't be reassured just because the name you heard sounds "normal" among your child's friends.

Drug street names in Egypt and the Arab world, family by family

Below are the street names heard most often, each given once and for recognition only, without glamorizing or downplaying anything.

1) Natural cannabis

Best-known names: hashish and bango in Egypt, bangu and shashmandi in Sudan, and zatla and kif in the Maghreb (the Arab countries of North-West Africa). However widespread it is, it is not harmless: according to the 2026 report, 33% of people receiving treatment for drug use in Africa named cannabis as their main drug. Is hashish addictive?

2) Synthetic cannabinoids ("chemicals")

Best-known names: strox and voodoo in Egypt, and joker and chemical (kimikal) in Jordan and Kuwait. These are not a plant, and they are not "stronger hashish". The US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) explains that they are made in laboratories, often have very different effects from cannabis, and have been tied to serious, life-threatening health problems. A scientific review adds that they act on the brain's cannabinoid receptors, yet their chemistry varies widely and keeps changing, and they cause more serious harm than natural cannabis, including a risk of death. Read more about strox and voodoo.

3) Stimulants

Best-known names: shabu, ice and crystal (methamphetamine) in Egypt, the Gulf and Iraq; captagon, Abu Hilalain and Abu Qawsain in the Gulf and the Levant; and boufa in Morocco (a cocaine derivative). Amphetamine-type stimulants weigh most heavily on treatment services across Asia as a whole: according to the 2026 report, 61% of people treated there in 2024 named them as their main drug. Signs of shabu (crystal meth) use.

4) Opioids

Best-known names: tramadol and tamol in Egypt, Libya and Sudan, as well as heroin, which is known in Egypt as el-boder; the same name may also be used for adulterated mixtures whose contents nobody knows. Tramadol is a painkiller with a legitimate medical use, but using it outside a doctor's prescription remains an ongoing threat in North Africa and has spread to the Near and Middle East, South-West Asia and Central Asia, according to the 2026 report. Withdrawal from opioids is hard and can carry risks, so it should not be done at home without medical supervision. Signs of tramadol addiction.

5) Sedatives and "nerve pills"

Best-known names: Rivotril, Roche and Abu Saliba in Egypt and the Gulf; Lyrica (pregabalin), which is also called el-sarookh in Algeria; karkoubi in Morocco and Algeria; Parkinol and hobob el-sarasir in Egypt; and Artane in Iraq and the Levant. These are real prescription medicines from different classes, prescribed for a range of medical reasons, and not all of them are sedatives, but some of them can be addictive. The NHS notes that pregabalin is a controlled drug in the UK, that some people can become addicted to it, and that stopping it needs a gradual reduction after talking to a doctor, to avoid withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal from sedatives and nerve pills can be dangerous, so it should never be done on your own, only under medical supervision.

6) Khat, inhalants and alcohol

Khat (Yemen and the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia) is a stimulant plant. According to FRANK, heavy use can bring raised blood pressure, a pounding heartbeat and other heart problems; it can irritate the mouth and harm the teeth; it carries a small risk of serious liver disease that can be life-threatening; and it can worsen mental health problems a person already has or trigger paranoid and psychotic reactions. Inhalants are volatile substances used most often by adolescents, especially younger ones, and NIDA warns that they can push the heart into a fast, irregular rhythm and cause fatal heart failure within minutes, even after a single use. As for alcohol, withdrawal from it is one of the situations that must never be left without medical supervision.

Why synthetic and adulterated drugs are the fastest-changing danger

The market changes faster than any guide can. The UNODC World Drug Report 2026 says that 755 new psychoactive substances were in circulation in 2024, 118 of them detected for the first time; that the number of drug types found in seizures in 2024 was five times what it was before 2000; and that some of the newer types are more dangerous than before.

This means a street name no longer tells you what is inside: a product sold under the same name may contain a completely different substance this time. The report also warns that drug mixtures sold under street names in some African countries are a growing threat to public health, and that the little evidence available shows they contain harmful ingredients, among them potent synthetic opioids known as nitazenes. Surprises like these can end in the emergency room.

General warning signs shared by most drugs

No single sign proves that someone is using drugs, but several changes building up over a few weeks deserve your attention. MedlinePlus, from the US National Library of Medicine, lists these among the signs of a drug problem:

• Frequently switching to a new group of friends
• Spending long stretches alone
• No longer caring about things they used to love
• Letting washing, clothes and personal care slip
• Bursts of high energy, very fast speech or talk that doesn't make sense
• Mood swinging quickly from low to good and back
• Changes in eating or sleeping patterns
• Skipping important appointments
• Trouble at work or at school
• Strained personal or family relationships

Many families also notice money or belongings going missing from home, sudden irritability when asked questions, intense secrecy around their phone, and cycles of staying up for long stretches followed by days of heavy sleep.

In fairness, these same signs can also be symptoms of depression, anxiety or study pressure with no drugs involved at all, and not everyone who uses drugs goes on to develop an addiction: as MedlinePlus explains, this depends on genetic, environmental and developmental factors. That is why a medical assessment is what settles the question.

What to do if you recognize one of these street names

1. Calm down first. Unless it is an emergency, give yourself a day to settle before you talk; an angry confrontation can end in denial and close the very door you need to keep open.
2. Ask about the family, not the name. Is it a stimulant, an opioid or a sedative? That is what the doctor builds the plan on.
3. Talk about what you see yourself: "I've noticed you're not sleeping and you've lost weight, and I'm worried about you" — no accusations and no secret searches.
4. Don't cut the substance off suddenly at home. Withdrawal from opioids, sedatives, nerve pills such as pregabalin, and alcohol can be dangerous and needs medical supervision.
5. Arrange a medical assessment early, and if your loved one refuses, the family can start with a psychotherapy session of its own.
6. Don't finance the use, or keep paying drug debts and covering for absences. Research-backed family-training programs teach relatives to reward drug-free time, not use, while staying loving and supportive. If a debt brings threats, put safety first and ask the treatment team.

How does treatment start, and what can you do now?

Treatment starts with an assessment, not with the name: the doctor identifies the substance (or the combination of substances), how long it has been used, and any mental health condition alongside it. Addiction can come together with a mental health condition such as depression or anxiety, which is known as "dual diagnosis", and MedlinePlus notes that treating both problems together improves the chances of success.

• Medically supervised detox when needed, so that withdrawal is safer and more bearable instead of dangerous.
• Psychological and behavioral therapy, one-to-one, in groups or with the family; MedlinePlus notes that combining medicines with psychotherapy gives most people the best chance of success.
• Follow-up and relapse prevention, because addiction is a chronic disease that can return even years after stopping, as MedlinePlus explains.
• Real work with the family, because the way the household responds makes a difference to the outcome. Family counseling within the rehabilitation program.

At Oxygen Center in Damanhour, the addiction treatment program starts with a calm, confidential medical assessment that decides whether the person needs a full inpatient stay or outpatient follow-up. Inpatient stays at the center are for males aged 15 and over (under 18 with a guardian's consent); women are welcome for outpatient doctor appointments, therapy sessions, behavior-modification sessions and drug tests. No one expects you to decide everything today; a single call to +20 101 687 0711 is enough. In Egypt, there is also the hotline of the Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction on 16023, which offers confidential treatment through partner centers.