PESHAWAR: The district administration has chalked out a plan to round up 1,000 drug addicts in Peshawar for treatment at the cost of Rs90 million.

The issue of drug addiction in the district was examined during a meeting chaired by commissioner of Peshawar division Riaz Khan Mehsud here on Wednesday.

The participants included the provincial head of the Anti-Narcotics Force and the representatives of the police and relevant law-enforcement agencies.

The meeting was briefed about the drug abuse situation in the district and remedial actions to bring down the number of drug addicts on the streets through a three-pronged programme.

Mr Mehsud told Dawn that the meeting decided to brief the chief minister about the issue and seek his approval for a crackdown on drug addicts.

Initiative to cost Rs90m

“We will round up drug addicts under the police security and provide them 7-14 days treatment. Those from other areas will be sent there after treatment,” he said.

The commissioner said the teams detaining drug addicts would have 20 police guards each.

He said the district administration would also act against the ‘cheap and easy’ availability of drugs in the provincial capital.

Mr Mehsud said drug abuse situation of the city was getting worse and people from other parts of the country were also coming to it.

A presentation made to the meeting revealed that there were about 1,000 drug addicts on Peshawar streets with those in the 14-45 age bracket being the worst hit by the issue.

According to it, drug abuse is acting as causative agent street crimes and diseases and is spreading to premier educational institutions.

The participants discussed a three-pronged strategy to address the issue.

Under the strategy, drug addicts will be removed from streets on a permanent basis in the first phase and treated and detoxified in the next for their sustainable rehabilitation and adjustment in society.

According to reports presented by the Intelligence Bureau and Special Branch, there are 527 drug addicts in Peshawar, while the district administration insists 1,000 of them live on the streets.

According to the police and IB reports, 312 of them belong to Peshawar, while the rest belong to other districts.

Karkhano Market, Board Bazaar’s railway line, Khyber Teaching Hospital’s boundary wall, Bus Rapid Transit’s overhead bridge in Khyber Bazaar, Shoba Bazaar, Bacha Khan Chowk, Dalazak Road railway warehouse, Yakatut and railway track near the Lady Reading Hospital were the hotspots of drug addicts in Peshawar.

The meeting was informed that only detoxification facility in the provincial capital was located near Eidgah area and it had the capacity to treat 100 drug addicts only.

In addition, the meeting also discussed strategy to take 1,000-1,500 drug addicts off the streets and informed that after a detailed survey of the private health care facilities, they have identified 1800 beds for the purpose.

The meeting decided that all drug addicts would be rounded up under the Drugs Free Peshawar Campaign within a week. Four teams will be formed to round up the addicts, who will then be admitted to the medical facilities for treatment.

Besides, joint teams of ANF, police and IB will also crackdown on drug peddlers.

The meeting was informed that Rs20,000 was required every month to treat a drug addict, while the three months treatment of 1,000 drug addicts would cost Rs60 million. The operational expenses of the initiative are likely to total Rs30 million.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2022