The narcotics trade is increasingly being used by organised criminal syndicates to finance militancy and terrorism.
LAHORE: This is with reference to your editorial of June 27 titled “Heroin habits”. While demand for cocaine, heroin and cannabis has declined or remained stable, the abuse/consumption of prescription opioid drugs and new synthetic drugs has risen, according to the World Drug Report 2011. Although there has been a sharp decline in opium production and a modest reduction in coca bush cultivation, the overall level of manufacture of heroin and cocaine has remained stable.
The report states that Pakistan’s geographic location makes it vulnerable to the threat of drug usage and trafficking, since Afghanistan produces almost 90 per cent of the world’s opium and heroin, of which almost 40 per cent is trafficked through Pakistan. Lack of border management also adds to the challenges of controlling the menace of drug trafficking. The narcotics trade is increasingly being used by organised criminal syndicates to finance militancy and terrorism.
As a major victim of militancy, it is in Pakistan’s national interest to be an active partner in the fight against drug trafficking.
Salma Tahir
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2011.
