ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a conference organised by the Justice Project of Pakistan urged the government to introduce a drug policy that focuses on harm reduction, education, and medication to prevent deaths due to overdose and incentivise rehabilitation for substance use disorders.

Speaking at a plenary session ‘Effective Health and Harm Reduction Responses to Drug Use’, Syed Zulfiqar Hussain, a narcotics policy campaigner, said there were almost 6.7 million drug users in Pakistan and the country did not have an effective “harm reduction treatment” policy. In Lahore alone, there were over 7,000 homeless drug users with as many as 120 “hotspots”.

“There is no specialised treatment centre for women with drug dependence in Pakistan. People who use drugs deserve dignity, respect, and stigma-free care,” said Mr Hussain.

Amir Munir, additional district and sessions judge, said there was a need to develop a consensus regarding drug policy, particularly its legal aspect which treated substance users as pariahs.

He said there was a need to transition from a “legal regime to social regime” in dealing with drug-related cases, advocating a “therapeutic regime” to promote the well-being of offenders.

Zaved Mahmood, who represents the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, said there was a need to follow international human rights principles for effective response to drug cases. He said the social stigma surrounding drugs needed to be removed and called for “decriminalisation” of minor drug charges to encourage rehabilitation. “International law says that every human being has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. This applies in the context of drug law, healthcare, and policies,” he added.

Adeeba Kamarulzaman, who joined the session via Zoom, also advocated “pragmatic and socially cohesive” approaches to deal with such cases.

Another session of the day focused on addressing “disparities in access to voluntary, evidence-based treatment and highlighting the importance of framing drug policy as a public health intervention”. One of the panelists Giada Girelli, a senior analyst at Harm Reduction International, said that “we spend 750 times more on punitive drug control measures than we do on life-saving essential harm reduction services”. “This is a violation of the rights of people who use drugs,” she added.

Speaking about the Portuguese experience of placing individuals’ health at the core of the drug policy, MP Ricardo Leite said that “nothing can be copy pasted from one country to another, but there are lessons that can be adapted to any context”.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2024