ISLAMABAD, March 1: The government and the United Nations Office on Drug and Crimes (UNODC) have started implementation of a $497,000 project to control drug addiction in prisons.

Ministry of Narcotics Control secretary Ismail Niazi on Thursday said that under the three-year project, steps would be taken to check selling of drugs and drugs addiction in prisons.

The government and the UNODC had recently signed an agreement for the project and the grant has already been provided to Pakistan.

The secretary for narcotics said the government and the UNODC would jointly take measures to educate inmates about the problem of drug abuse and the spread of HIV/Aids.

He said a survey was in progress to ascertain the number of drug addicts in prisons in the country.

The official said the Ministry of Narcotics Control and the UNODC had also conducted a survey of drug addicts in the country previously and the findings of the fresh survey would be made public in April.

“According to the last survey, the total number of heroin addicts in Pakistan was 500,000 and of those who used injected drugs was about 60,000, he said, adding that the number must have increased now.

He said the survey would enable the government to further boost its efforts and build national capacity to curb the menace. He said the survey would provide policymakers with updated information on the extent, pattern and trends of the drug problem and its social and health implications.

Giving details about ongoing drug control projects, he said a project worth $1.1million for capacity building of the

Anti-Narcotics Force, Frontier Corps, Balochistan, Frontier Constabulary, NWFP, and the Federal Investigation Agency was underway.

Similarly, he said, a $270,000 project for rehabilitating women addicts and another project worth $580,000 for assisting street children with drug abuse problems were also being implemented.