A NARCOTICS crisis has long been brewing in Pakistan, whether or not we admit it. As illegal substances flood our borders, we must confront a harsh truth: our youth are increasingly in harm’s way. Once regarded mainly as a transit corridor for narcotics originating in Afghanistan, Pakistan has now become a major consumer state as well. A 2013 UNODC report estimated that 6m people in the country used drugs — more recent estimates round this off to 7m, with thousands added each year. The menace spares no demographic and festers as easily in elite private hostels as in overcrowded public colleges. Heroin, crystal meth (‘ice’), cocaine and prescription sedatives all change hands with disturbing ease. A 2022 ANF-linked survey found that 53pc of university students have encountered drugs, with nearly a third admitting recent use. Dealers exploit encrypted messaging apps, ride-hailing couriers, and even on-campus staff to move products faster than the state can react. While the ANF boasts record seizures, Pakistan’s prevention and treatment infrastructure is hardly sufficient. Most campuses still lack clear drug-use policies or trained mental-health professionals. Social stigma silences affected families, allowing dependency to deepen until overdose or arrest makes the damage visible.

Today, on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, we must understand that addiction is a medical condition, not a moral failing. Punitive attitudes only drive sufferers underground and leave dealers free to operate. A rights-based approach — treating users as patients rather than criminals — is essential for every policy step. The government should move on multiple fronts. First, the HEC must require every institution to develop drug policies backed by random testing, confidential counselling and swift rehab referrals. Second, provincial education and health departments should embed anti-drug modules in curricula from middle school onward, pairing them with quality mental-health services. Third, border security has to be tightened, especially in Balochistan and KP, where traffickers operate with near impunity. Finally, the centre and provinces must expand affordable treatment centres and fund research, and publish reliable data so policy can track evolving threats. Drugs are quietly hollowing out an entire generation’s potential. Our leaders must move beyond rhetoric, marshal every agency at their command, and show the nation’s children that their lives matter more than the traffickers’ profits.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2025