Integrated efforts needed to combat drug menace: Afridi

Minister of State for SAFRON and Narcotics Control Shehryar Afridi on Tuesday said that all those countries which are contributing enormously in fight against drugs should be given due respect and cooperation by all the key stakeholders because integrated efforts were needed to combat the menace. The Minister said this while speaking at the 4th Trans-Regional Operational meeting on Drugs organised by the Ministry of Narcotics Control in collaboration with European Union (EU) Action against Drugs at a hotel here. Speaking about the trans-regional operational meeting, he said, “The theme and importance of this meeting cannot be over-emphasized as it has brought together the drug law enforcement and strategic level officials from eight African countries as well as from various other international agencies.” He said, “A recent significant innovative measure is the launch of smart phone application named Zindagi aims to provide basic and firsthand information to the families of the drug addicts and masses in general.” He said that it has become more important to keep the public well informed in wake of rising trend of synthetic drugs such ice and myth. This information would prove valuable to the families in identification of symptoms which their loved ones may be exhibiting in case of drug use, he added. He pointed out that even before the formal launch of the mobile app “Zindagi” we have received appreciation from regional and neighboring countries with the request to provide them proto type which may be modified and customized as per needs and requirements of their countries. “Seriousness of the government in controlling the spread of drugs is reflected from the fact that the Prime Minister himself launched the mobile application Zindagi at a ceremony held recently,” he said. Pakistan’s efforts to control the menace of drugs which were being carried out by the Ministry of Narcotics Control and ANF have been multi-dimensional, he added. He said that the National Anti-Narcotics Policy has been formulated aimed at combating and uprooting threats posed by natural and synthetic drugs in more effective manner by ensuring stronger mechanism. He highly appreciated the performance and contribution of the ANF in controlling and combating the menace of drugs. He informed the participants of the meeting that now since the artificial intelligence has become order of the day, the government has recently launched one of the biggest data regarding all crimes, specifically the drug users. “We have collected data from 250 accredited websites,” he added. “Pakistan is committed and has all the abilities to combat menace of drugs while our team has learnt from achievements as now we want to share it with the entire globe,” he said, adding that National Drug Abuse Survey-2013 had indicated presence of over 6.5 million drug addicts; more over an alarming number of people who inject drugs estimated to be around 430,000 are further cause of concern. He said that the drug abuse also gave rise to other health concerns such as spread of HIV and hepatitis. He said that another study showed in 2016 that since 2005 the HIV injector drug users increase from 11 percent to 38.4 per cent which is very alarming. Similarly, out of 160,000 drug users in the country, nearly 44,000 were those who inject drugs, he added. He said that the number of victims have definitely increased in the last five years and “we were currently on the way conducting survey to measure the exact extend and gravity of the situation.” He said that Pakistan has maintaining the poppy-free status since 2001, now it has become more important to energize the efforts which were being made in the region by the national governments and the international counterparts. The Ministry of Narcotics Control and Anti-Narcotics Force have undertaken several initiatives in addition to regular enforcement measures such as drug seizures and intelligence based and control delivery operations to control the drugs, he said, adding that 85 per cent of all sorts of drugs were being manufactured in Afghanistan and Pakistan shares 2611 kilometers borders with Afghanistan. “We have made sacrifices and have never compromised but these achievements should have been acknowledged at the highest level,” he said.