Substance abuse : Drug rehabilitation programmes missing despite rise of addiction

The chronic disease that is drug addiction, like other diseases, can be managed and treated but the stigma and unawareness attached to it in the country has resulted in an inconcrete governmental effort to combat it.

For instance, as per official police department sources, currently, there are roughly 15,000 people fighting drug addiction in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P)’s capital Peshawar alone, but the rehabilitation centers for drug addicts in the province have a capacity to treat only 2,000 people.

According to the statistics of the provincial government, 11 centers are functioning in K-P - located in Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi, Lower Dir, Malakand, Swat, Charsadda, Dera, and Kirk. None, however, exist in the tribal districts of Khyber, Mohmand, Bajaur, Orakzai, North and South Waziristan, and Kurram. As a result, the residents of these areas knock on the doors of the center in the provincial capital for treatment. Their worries do not end with a trip to Peshawar though, as according to the provincial Social Welfare Department, these individuals are either turned away or put on a waiting list due to lack of space.

The other option to fall back on, which many cannot rely on, is to spend millions of rupees at private centers. If they are lucky they end up securing a place at non-governmental organization (NGO) operated rehabilitation centers which albeit cheaper are still unaffordable and like other centers have marginal treatment efficacy rates. According to Aizaz-ud-Din, the Monitoring Officer of a NGO working on rehabilitation of drug addicts in Peshawar, the rate of complete recovery from drugs is only 32%.

One such case out of the countless in K-P of a lack of success with rehab is, Baisat, a resident of Chamkani, a suburb of Peshawar, who has been addicted to drugs for the last eight years.

“I have been treated three times but I cannot give up my addiction,” he said. Baisat, who recently did a three month stint in jail on charges of theft, has two children, but his family refuses to spend any further money on his treatment.

Aizaz-ud-Din’s center charges Rs600 per patient per day which includes food, medicine, counseling, and detoxification but is still out of the price range of many like Baisat’s family. Aizaz-ud-Din conceded that most of the patients like Baisat, who have already been treated, eventually come back.

Juvenile and female drug addicts

Unsuccessful attempts at rehab aside, K-P has a brewing drug-addicted juvenile problem at hand as well. According to an NGO report, the number of such children between 2010 and 2018, stood at more than 5,000 in Peshawar alone and has only risen ever since. As per sources, about 500 to 600 children contact rehabilitation centers annually, with ages ranging from 12 to 18 years and are mostly garbage and scrap collectors and beggars.

Similarly, the rate of addiction amongst women has risen ten-fold in the province but as per sources, only about 2% of women contact for treatment in private clinics or rehabilitation centers.

The problem is exacerbated due to the lack of a juvenile or women rehabilitation center by the government.

The Express Tribune found that due to the lack of centers, the provincial Social Welfare Department has no concrete data on the number of young and female substance abuse addicts. Ayesha Bano, a Member of the Provincial Assembly and Parliamentary Secretary for Higher Education who also works for women’s rights in K-P, told The Express Tribune that a meeting had recently taken place with the Social Welfare Department in which the establishment of a center for women and juveniles was discussed in detail.

“Consultations are also underway with the department regarding separate arrangements for women in government centers in the province, efforts will also be made to set up a state-of-the-art rehab center for the juveniles in the province,” she informed The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2022.