Lahore witnesses spike in drug abuse

Seen sitting in parks and sidewalks across the provincial capital at sunrise, with no one to stop them, are the city’s drug addicts.

Expelled by their families out of frustration; they are involved in begging on the streets, jacking vehicles, or looting at night to meet their substance abuse needs.

Many of them die daily and are declared and buried as unknown addicts -- which,according to Edhi’s volunteers, has become a routine occurrence in Lahore.

Lahore is, once again, seeing a rise in drug addiction amongst its population ranging from 16 to 40-year-olds. Either injecting themselves with syringes from nearby medical stores or consuming marijuana, heroin, or crystal methamphetamine most addicts frequent Taxali’s parks, Azadi Chowk, Mao Hospital, Ravi Road, Fruit Hospital, Upper Mall and the areas around Ganga Ram in the inner city, adjacent to the Royal Fort and the Badshahi Mosque.

Since there is no procedure in the social welfare department or hospitals in Punjab to rehabilitate these drug addicts it translates into an absence of crackdowns by the police on addicts.

The police claim that despite drug dealers being arrested, a spike in substance abusers was recorded during Covid-19 lockdowns.

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According to the law enforcement agency, efforts in catching these individuals are in vain as they injure themselves with sharp objects upon being caught and when they are taken for treatment to hospitals, they escape. If they are transferred to a detention facility, they try to kill themselves upon not getting their daily fix; the blame of their death then falls on the police.

Other ways

Sources tell the Express Tribune that apart from dealers a number of medical stores around hospitals sell banned substances to addicts in the lure of money. Dr Salman Kazmi, General Secretary of the Young Doctors Association, said that some medical stores provide injections and medicines to addicts.

These injections, not available without a doctor’s prescription, are first laced with white crystals and injected through a syringe resulting in intoxication. A move which contributes to the spread of hepatitis, AIDS and other deadly diseases due to sharing syringes or stealing each other’s injections.

In the past, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has raided some medical stores, and roundups have reduced the use of these injections but presently no action is being taken by drug inspectors responsible for checking these medical stores.

The Lahore High Court has also directed the rehabilitation of drug users but there is an absence of official centers to rehabilitate drug addicts.

There are many private centers that charge Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per day but instead of rehab, the patients are tied up with ropes and subjected to physical abuse. The result is a temporary recovery process and as soon as the addicts are released, they go back to business as usual.

Crackdown

Contrary to all this, the police claim that they are cracking down on drug dealers. During this year, 4,747 cases were registered against dealers. More than 4,800 accused involved in drug trafficking were arrested.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2021.