Defeating the deadly drug trap

The recent high-profile case in Karachi, involving the abduction and gruesome murder of a young man, has brought to the fore the problem of the sale and abuse of addictive substances or drugs in the country. The case has led to a great deal of discussion about the problem and how it can be solved, given how operations are run by persons with contacts in important places.

It is noted by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime that Pakistan has 6.7 million drug users, almost all of them aged between 15 and 65 years. The report also notes that the country has 800,000 heroin users and the drugs most commonly abused in the country are cannabis and heroin. Prescription medicines are also commonly abused.

While the majority of drug users are male, about 22 per cent of the total drug users in Pakistan are women, according to the UNODC. Another report from an international think tank published in 2020 noted that the widespread presence of smoking, notably among young people, was one of the factors which led to high levels of drug use and abuse. Smoking and now vaping, are among the activities seen as gateways to drug use and addiction in various forms.

The question for Pakistan, which saw its most serious drug addiction issues after the war in Afghanistan began following the Soviet invasion of that country in the late 1970s, is how we can now overcome the problem. There are obviously no easy answers. But the problems lie also in the lack of centres where addicts can be treated and in the lack of information given out to people about various substances and the effects they can have on those who use them.

Drug addiction is one of the taboo subjects in our society and the result is that families often keep addiction within their homes, even when they are aware that a person within their family is using drugs in one form or the other. They do this to escape stigma and to avoid adverse comments in neighbourhoods, institutions and other places.

The overall impact, however, is damaging. There are many subjects we need to bring out of the darkness and into something resembling light. This may seem difficult, but it is a step we will have to move towards. As a primary measure, it has been recommended by experts and analysts from around the world that information on drug use and abuse should be provided at the school and college levels so that young people and children are made aware of how dangerous these substances can be and what they should do if they note that there may be persons in their circle of acquaintances and friends who are offering them use of one drug or the other.

Sadly, it seems that even when schools have attempted to set up workshops to educate children on the issue, parents have fought back, arguing that such workshops or sessions should not be permitted as they will only lure young people towards drugs. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The same rule, of course, applies to other areas of life in which we do not allow conversation or open discourse in society or even within closed groups.

One of the results that often stems from a better-educated population, one that is aware of what drugs and banned substances can do to their bodies, is a greater willingness to stay away from these problems through measures taken on their own. This is the mechanism that allows persons around the world to ignore peer pressure and other efforts to hand over drugs to them and later persuade them to buy these. This is especially important since initial studies in Pakistan, some of which have come after the Mustafa Amir murder case, suggest that quite often young people with access to drugs initially persuade friends to try these and then create a circle to whom they can sell the substance and thereby support their own habit by possessing enough money to purchase and acquire these substances.

In addition to users and potential users themselves, it's also important that families and parents know about the initial signs of drug use and are open to the idea that it can happen anywhere and at any time. Even children as young as 12 have been known to have been offered banned substances in one form or the other.

One of the steps widely used in Europe is to de-stigmatise the use of some such substances by making them legal. This is the case of cannabis or marijuana in countries such as the Netherlands and others in other nations in Europe. But in our society, due to the culture and lack of awareness that exists, this may be a difficult road to follow.

There are, however, many others that we can consider and walk down. There have been warnings before about the ill effects of drug use in the country and the spread of diseases including HIV or AIDS as a result of the use of injectable drugs. In schools, the use of crystal meth or Ice is said to be becoming more and more prevalent, although again we have too few statistics to tell us how many users there are and whether pockets exist where such substances are available.

A previous minister for narcotics affairs had suggested that in almost every educational institution in Islamabad, crystal meth was being sold and used by children and young people of both genders. This may not be precisely a fact. But we need to first understand where exactly the truth lies so that we can go about tackling the problem.

We need to face up to the fact that we have a problem -- and a very real one. The first means of tackling it must be to empower experts and others, including those in the media, to discuss the drug issue widely and come up with possible answers. Only through such discussions can we move towards solutions.

This will be a long battle for a country where the drug culture is so deeply entrenched. But the attempt to bring this culture to a halt, or at least to slow it down as far as possible, needs to be made now and needs to begin quickly given the link between drugs and crimes of other kinds.

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor. She can be reached at: kamilahyat@hotmail.com