KARACHI: Over the years, there has been an alarming increase in the number of drug users, especially those hooked to synthetic narcotics, in the country. The gaps in capacity owing to a shortage of funds and resources are major impediments to the fight against narcotics.

These observations were made by Commander of the Anti-Narcotics Force Sindh Brig Noor-ul-Hassan at a seminar titled ‘Drug abuse — a growing problem for youth and measures’, organised by Karachi University (KU) on Wednesday.

Highlighting how drug use was adversely affecting people across the world, Brig Hassan referred to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2016 report according to which one in 20 adults, or a quarter of a billion people between the ages of 15 and 64 years, used at least one drug in 2014.

‘Drug use kills around 685 people daily worldwide whereas the deaths caused by terrorism are estimated to be 39’

“Of these, 12 million are people who inject drugs with 14pc living with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). Only one in 16 drug users globally has access to or receives drug dependence treatment services each year whereas over 29 million people who use drugs are estimated to severely suffer from drug use disorders,” he said.

Sharing some other data, he said that while drug trade was lucrative involving around $435bn, the total amount needed for people hooked to various drugs was estimated to be $225bn.

“Drug use claims lives of around 685 people daily worldwide whereas the death toll caused by terrorism is estimated to be 39,”he told a packed audience.

Coming to Pakistan, Mr Hassan said the country had become a transit route for Afghan opiates and had fallen victim to the drug menace.

“Pakistan shares a 2,611-kilometre-long border with Afghanistan, a country considered the global epicentre of poppy cultivation and narcotics production. Forty per cent of Afghanistan’s total opium and heroin production is transported [to other countries] through Pakistan,” he said, while showing maps indicating various trafficking routes for opiates, cannabis and drug precursors (a substance which can be used to make illicit drugs) from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

According to him, drugs much in demand are charas/hashish, synthetic drugs (ecstasy, ice etc), cocaine and heroin. The province most affected by drug use is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (11pc of population) followed by Sindh (6.5pc), Balochistan (5.10pc) and Punjab (4.8pc).

Speaking about ANF’s responsibilities and operation, he said they included tracing and freezing assets of drug smugglers as well as drug demand reduction and treatment of addicts.

“Last year, 350MT of drugs worth $4.16bn were destroyed. The total quantity of narcotics seized from 1995 till now is 1,851MT and total precursor chemicals 393MT,” he said while pointing to a graph and data showing major seizures over the past four years.

He stressed the need for participation by all stakeholders in addressing the narcotics challenge and said that drugs must be considered a shared community problem.

“Drug use affects an individual and society in so many ways, leading to an increased financial burden on the public health system, rise in violent crime and destruction of family and societal fabric,” he said, adding that children were less likely to use prohibited drugs if discouraged.

Dr Mowadat Rana of the Dow University of Health Sciences spoke about how people, especially the youth, got hooked to drugs. “It gives you a false feeling of absolute control. But the game never ends,” he said.

Elaborating upon the reasons which led to drug addiction, he said often it’s a refuge from stressful life. Children whose parents were addicted were likely to do drugs.

“Peer pressure also plays a crucial role, apart from factors like emotional or financial deprivation. Self-respect is violated everywhere in our society. That’s how people are compelled to turn to drugs,” he said.

Need for rehabilitation

He also stressed the need for drug addicts’ proper rehabilitation and their societal acceptance. “Let’s try a policy shift. If love doesn’t work, increase the dose of love.”

Dr Tariq Arain, a senior psychiatrist, talked about the short- and long-term health effects of drugs.

KU Vice Chancellor Prof Mohammad Ajmal Khan said the university and its students would do their best to end drug menace from society.

“Let’s be smart. Drugs don’t make you look modern or sophisticated. We should never want to give control of ourselves to something else. Drugs give you ecstasy leading to permanent agony. Why would you want pain in your life?” he said.

Prof Mohammad Ahmed Qadri, the dean of the social sciences’ faculty, and Salman Asif, a student of the computer science department, also spoke.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2017