Minister for Narcotics Control Syed Ijaz Ahmed Shah underlined the need for collective efforts by all segments of society to root out the menace of drugs use.
Chairing a meeting on Wednesday to devise a strategy for awareness campaigns, the minister said it was a serious threat to society but unfortunately, during previous years, it had not been the top priority. Senior officials from Ministries of Information and Narcotics Control besides representatives from Education, Art and Culture Departments and civil society, took part in the deliberations.
He informed the meeting that an estimated nine million people in the country were addicted to drugs and with the introduction of new forms of drugs in the market, the figure may further go up in the coming days. “Therefore, it is high time to take this issue seriously and involve all stakeholders, including the health and education departments as well as law-enforcement agencies to root out this evil,” he stressed.
The minister advised preparing a strategy where the addicts were portrayed as victims or patients instead of abhorring them as criminals. “We need law enforcement agencies’ action against the culprits and patience for the addicts to rehabilitate them because they are already a victim of this curse,” he added.
Narcotics Control Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani called upon the participants to join hands with the ministry for raising awareness and purging society of outlaws and rehabilitation of the affected people.
He stated that at present there were only 216 beds at different hospitals in the country specified for the treatment of drug addicts. “This trend needs to be revisited with specifying space at almost every major hospital in the country,” he added.
The participants were informed that 70 to 80 percent of drugs are smuggled to Pakistan from Afghanistan, which has now become the most profitable business. It was shared that there are 3.7 percent daily users of drugs and 10 percent occasional users among whom around 50 percent range between the ages of 18 to 26.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 11th, 2021.
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