June 26, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 10, 1428

LAHORE, June 25: Willpower alone can help a person quit drug addiction, says young Shaukat Ali Bokhari undergoing rehabilitation at the Punjab Institute of Medical Health. The 28-year-old, who currently lives with his parents in Awan Town, hooked on to drugs in 1998 when he was a student of bachelors in commerce.

“My cousin, also an addict, had first offered me some charas-filled cigarettes in 1998 when I was staying at my uncle’s house in Dera Ismail Khan,” Bukhari recalls. “Soon I started consuming liquor, heroin. And after failure in love, I started using injections.”

The addiction badly affected Bukhari’s studies as he did his bachelors five years later in 2003, after his first rehabilitation.

“After passing the exam I again started taking drugs. I made several attempts to discontinue addiction but, mind you, it is not easy to get rid of it.”

Bukhari who came to the PIMH rehabilitation centre once again with a hope of recovery, said only willpower could make the treatment a success.

Some other addicts told this reporter that they had been admitted several times to the PIMH rehabilitation centre but, after each recover, they could not resist drugs for long.

Attaur Rehman, an elderly patient at the centre, claims that a majority of people consume drugs to enhance their sexual drive. “I myself got very good results,” he boasts.

The PIMH is one of the 42 rehabilitation centres for addicts across Punjab and it is learnt that most of their beneficiaries turn to drugs sooner or later after rehabilitation.

The International Day Against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking is being observed on Tuesday (today) worldwide and in Pakistan it is being marked with an objective to reiterate commitment to fight this menace and create maximum awareness against drug abuse, which is affecting population, particularly youth.

Out of 42 centres, 11 are run by the government, 21 by the private sector and 10 by NGOs.

In Lahore, Mayo, Ganga Ram and PIMH extend treatment to addicts in their rehabilitation centres. Besides, there are seven private and five NGO-run facilities.

Addicts use different drugs, including charas, opium, cocaine, heroin, injections, tablets, glue & patrol sniffing, painkillers, synthetic drugs, psychotropic drugs and others.

Punjab Anti-Narcotics Force Commander Brigadier Babur Idrees says the most expensive cocaine is con umed by boys and girls from the elite class. It costs Rs10,000 per one gram.

“It is smuggled into Pakistan from Latin America and Europe and is normally used by the elite class in dance and other parties in big cities,” he said.

Answering a question, he said the ANF had taken action against cocaine users but added the force was facing difficulties owing to the absence of a law against its use.

“We have sent a proposal to the government to amend the drug law to include the use of cocaine as an offence in terms of weight and price so that the ANF could arrest them.”

According to Brig Idrees, those from middle class use different tablets for relieving pain while a large number of people belonging to the lower middle as well as poor class use injectable drugs and syrups. “Poor addicts exchange needles which could cause fatal diseases.”

He said according to a joint survey of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and ANF Pakistan in 2003, there were around 4.5million addicts in Pakistan.

He said findings of last survey conducted by the same organizations regarding the number of addicts have yet to be concluded.

Brig Idrees said the number of heroin addicts had reduced in the country, especially Punjab, because of reduction in supply and an effective ANF strategy.

“The number of heroin addicts increased alarmingly between 1980 and 2,000 but after the formation of ANF, their number started decreasing following the arrest of drug barons,” he said.

The brigadier said the use of injections and syrups (which were easily available in the market) by the addicts had witnessed an alarming increase and there was a need to have a check on this menace by all departments like health and city governments.

“The ANF alone cannot do it alone as drugs are being sold in markets under licence and are easily available to addicts,” he added.

“This is the threat the ANF is facing right now and it requires a multi-dimensional response in which provincial departments could come forward to join hands with us,” he maintained.

According to official statistics, the ANF Punjab have arrested 313 drug-peddlers and recovered 197 kg heroin, 3,430 kg charas, 64kg opium, 452gms cocaine, 31,000 narcotics based injections and 1,700 syrups and other prohibited drugs from their possession.

Around 93 wanted drug pushers are still at large.

DRUGS BURNT: The ANF destroyed confiscated drugs worth millions in a ceremony held at EXPO Centre, Johar Town, here on Monday.

The drugs included 71kg heroin, 3,156.5kg charas, 2,593kg poppy straw, 73 bottles of liquor, 320gms chemical powder, 294 injections Diazepam and Prejectal.

Speaking on the occasion, Punjab ANF Commander Brig Babur Idress said the force had already seized a large quantity of drugs and arrested many smugglers.

WALK: The ANF is organizing a walk from Bagh-i-Jinnah to Punjab Assembly Hall on Tuesday (today) to mark the day.