Though the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) publicly forbids its fighters from using or dealing in drugs, there is ample evidence that the use of narcotics is rampant among them, Iraqi officials told Diyaruna.

Iraqi forces have confiscated large quantities of drugs they found in ISIS hideouts or concealed in the clothing of dead fighters, they said.

"It was rare for us not to find drugs in the pockets of fallen ISIS elements," Anbar provincial council member Naeem al-Koud told Diyaruna.

Furthermore, he said, a number of living ISIS fighters captured by the Iraqi forces have appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

In one such case, al-Koud said, a Syrian ISIS fighter captured by Iraqi forces in Barwanah, western Anbar, appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

"This militant, who was no older than 13, was drugged and unaware of his surroundings or what he was saying," he said.

When the effect of the drug had worn off, the teenager told his captors ISIS leaders had given him and others doctored water to drink, telling them it would give them power, al-Koud said.

"The water surely contained narcotics, and the goal was to turn those fighters into madmen who would fight blindly and do whatever they were asked without discussion," he said.

Well-documented drug use

ISIS’s use of drugs is well-documented, al-Koud said, and is one of the ways the group transforms its fighters into suicide attackers, capable of killing themselves and others without a second thought.

This calculated methodology exposes ISIS's fundamental hypocrisy, he added, as the group publicly deems it forbidden to consume drugs, while privately condoning the use of illegal substances to further its own ends.

"This is not unusual, as ISIS gives itself license to do anything," he said.

"We found large stashes of heroin and hallucinogenic pills in ISIS locations during the liberation of Baiji, Mosul and Tal Afar," police spokesman Col. Abdul Rahman al-Khazaali told Diyaruna.

"We also found drugs in the pockets of dead fighters," he said.

ISIS elements had plundered several medical storage facilities in these areas and had stolen tranquilizers, anesthetics and pain killers, he said.

In addition to stealing prescription drugs for non-prescription use, street drugs also have been discovered during Iraqi raids on ISIS hideouts, he said, adding that he believed many of the fighters had obtained the drugs in Syria.