Recreational purposes: K-P to snuff out city’s drug problem with rehabilitation centres

PESHAWAR:

In the 1970s, Peshawar was part of the hippie trail – a part of alternative tourism where hippies travelled for cheap and an extended period of time. The highlight of these trips was the stops they made to try the local strain of cannabis.

The image has stuck with the city and its cafés even after the hippies left.

Nearly four decades later, when 12 grammes of charas cost anywhere from Rs700 to Rs1,500, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Home and Tribal Affairs department has decided to do something about the province’s drug problem. They plan to set up rehabilitation centres at Hayatabad Medical Complex and Police Services Hospital, as discussed in a meeting chaired by Home Secretary Syed Akhtar Ali Shah at the home department.

The meeting was also attended by officials from the prison, FATA Secretariat, the railways, health department, anti-narcotics team and social welfare department.

They discussed in detail what steps should be taken to curb the province’s drug consumption and provide users with a friendly environment for rehabilitation.

In a notification issued on Wednesday, Shah asked officials to set up a 100-bed hospital at Hayatabad Medical Complex and Police Services Hospital to accommodate drug users and provide them with medical assistance.

Shah told officials that such centres should also be set up in other hospitals of the province.

In addition to taking care of their health, Shah said that he wanted the drug users to learn a skill which would help them get work in the future.

He added the prison department should ensure that drugs are kept out of the reach of prisoners in prisons. Officials from the secretariat were also told to take steps to control the drug problem in their area, while police was directed to curb smuggling and bring the elements involved to task.

When contacted, officials told The Express Tribune that more than 40% of the users travel to the provincial capital to buy drugs as they are cheaper in Peshawar.

Officials who did not wish to be named said they were planning on carrying out awareness campaigns at educational institutions along with sports activities in the summer break to discourage smoking and recreational drugs.

A meeting has been scheduled with anti-narcotics officials for Thursday (today) where they will discuss strategies and what to do in the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2014.