The Ruling on Using Heroin and Narcotics

Question:
The questioner asks: What is the ruling on using heroin, whether by smoking or by injection? And is the hadd punishment for drinking alcohol applied to the user? For your knowledge, Honorable Shaykh, they have visited the hospital many times with the symptoms of use.

Answer:
Narcotics are more severe than alcohol, may Allah protect us. Alcohol intoxicates for a period and then goes away, but heroin and other narcotics, as doctors know, do not go away; they remain, and the person stays ill because of them, destroying his health and his body. So it is more dangerous than alcohol. Given the evil in alcohol, narcotics are more wicked and harmful than alcohol. The Muslim is forbidden from taking them, and it is obligatory for him to repent to Allah and stay away from that. If he does not stop and persists, is he brought to the court, to the judge, so that the Shari'ah ruling is issued against him to deter him from using such things? Yes.