Drugs at school: Control mechanism discussed

ANF commander briefs heads of educational institutes.

ISLAMABAD: An estimated eight to nine million people in the country between 15 and 64 years of age are affected by drugs; the majority of these users are between the ages of 20 and 30.

An official of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), Brig Ramzan Gill, revealed these facts in a presentation to heads of educational institutes at a local hotel on Wednesday.

The aim of the meeting was to formulate a joint mechanism to curb the flow of drugs to students.

It was revealed at the event that the ANF, along with local police, recently busted a drug network allegedly run by Idrees Lone; referred to as the ‘Butt group’. The group is said to have been supplying drugs to three universities and various colleges and schools in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Gill said three million Pakistanis use medicines without prescriptions, adding that domestic drug users in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) was 11 per cent; 6.5 per cent in Sindh; over five per cent in Balochistan; and 4.8 per cent in Punjab.

The official explained that the use of drugs in Pakistan was an obvious outcome of the country being a transit route for narcotics. He said opium cultivation in Afghanistan has increased; nearing an all-time high of 254,000 hectares as compared to 2,606 hectares between 2000 and 2001.

He said the porous borders, Afghan refugees, poor law and order, little monitoring, exploitation of poor and uneducated masses, international linkages between drug trafficking organisations, no awareness campaigns for the youth, and peer pressure were some of the major factors leading to the proliferation of drugs in the country.

“The total value of Afghanistan’s poppy is $104 billion, and money coming back to Afghanistan through the opium trade is $8 billion,” he added.

The total poppy cultivation in K-P and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in 2014 was 797 hectares. This number dropped to 329 hectares in 2015. He said poppy was cultivated over a total area of 1,227 hectares in all four provinces of the country; of which 977.20 hectares have been destroyed.

The UNODC has acknowledged Pakistan with a poppy-free status, he said.

The commander said so far this year, the ANF had busted 10 international drug-running gangs, compared with 13 in 2014; with as many as 39 domestic drug gangs busted this year, compared to 93 last year. In addition, 122 airport busts were conducted this year, with 181 conducted in 2014.

Talking about preventive measures, he said there is a need to sensitise teachers, staff, students and parents on the issue of curbing the spread of drugs in educational institutes, and halt the narcotics trade. He suggested organising vigilance committees to monitor suspected students, staffers and vendors.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2015.