Fighting drug menace

ANF, police and other agencies need to be re-activated against local production, smuggling and sale of drugs

Man has been using addictive substances — mostly derived from herbs or botanical roots — since time immemorial. These substances have formed the basis of traditional medicines or drugs to cure a variety of ailments among men and animals. They have since long also been used to elevate mental states or as mind-altering drugs. However, these are the synthetic and chemical formulations of these herbs or substances that have come to play havoc with the physical and psychological well-being of mankind.

Pakistan is no exception to this increasing menace and innovative approaches to convert them into more lethal addictive substances. In recent months a number of reports and surveys have revealed that there is an alarming rise in the consumption of drugs among the students in schools and universities. In December last year, the State Minister for Interior, Shehryar Afridi, made a startling disclosure that 75 percent of female and 45 percent of male students in educational institutions of Islamabad were hooked on drugs, especially the crystal meth and its local variation known as ice. Most of the people disputed these figures and argued that Afridi’s source of this information was a report presented to the Senate standing committee in October 2016 which claimed that more than 50 percent students from elite schools were drug addicts.

Whatever its background, the statement served as a wake-up call for the government as well as other sections of society. On Tuesday, Punjab’s education minister for schools announced that government has decided to introduce drug test for all students of public and private schools in the province. This exercise would be carried out in collaboration with the provincial health department and the Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF).

These measures must be welcomed, but can it be a lasting solution to the problem of drug menace. What is needed is to re-activate ANF, police and other agencies to plan a crackdown on local production, smuggling and sale or marketing of these drugs and substances.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2019.

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