WHERE there’s smoke there’s fire, but not necessarily a blazing inferno. One can scarcely deny that drugs are a growing menace in our society, especially among the youth, but Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi’s words at a recent event were overly alarmist. It was at the launch ceremony in Islamabad of a child rights training programme for the police that he said 75pc of female students and 45pc of male students in the federal capital are addicted to drugs, including crystal meth — commonly known as ice. Such an allegation strains credulity, and it was irresponsible of the minister to breezily throw out numbers without offering any evidence to back up his claim. Surely the gravity of the situation could have been credibly conveyed without trying to stoke panic. In fact, it may even make many parents think twice before sending their girls for higher education, lest they fall victim to such vices. There are already multiple challenges to arresting the female high school dropout rate in the country without adding more to the list.

That said, Mr Afridi’s contention that there must be a mass awareness programme for parents to recognise the symptoms of addiction in their children is an essential aspect of what must be a multifaceted approach to addressing this social evil. Not so however, was the Sindh government’s hare-brained idea earlier this year to institute mandatory drug testing for students in the province. The issue would be much more effectively tackled by cracking down on drug supply lines and, crucially, by weeding out the many law-enforcement personnel at every level who have a stake in the proceeds of this criminal racket. Young people everywhere are generally impulsive, angst-ridden and impressionable, easy targets for anyone trying to sell them a few hours of trippy escape. This is where families and educational institutes can work together to prevent students from dabbling in drugs in the first place, and to offer counselling for those wanting to break the habit.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2018