High life: Punjab has highest number of drug users, says UNODC report

LAHORE: Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique on Thursday said collective efforts by the government, the civil society, the media and non-government organisation (NGOs) were required to check use of narcotics.

He said elimination of narcotics was necessary for eradication of communicable diseases.

He said was addressing the launch of United Nation Office of Drug Control (UNODC) report 2013 regarding drug use in Pakistan and the Punjab.

He said drug use adversely affected families of drug users and was harmful for society.

Rafique said drug users injected drugs through syringes and sharing of syringes was among the leading causes of spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis-C.

Rafique said the UNODC and the government should prepare a joint action plan for eradication of drugs.

He said the action plan should include an awareness campaign regarding use of drugs, capacity-building of treatment facilities and the control of HIV/AIDS.

Earlier, a representative of the UNODC presented the report regarding drug use in the Punjab.

He said Afghanistan had become one of the largest poppy cultivating countries in the world and stressed the need of effective measures to control smuggling of narcotics.

Drug use in 2013
Around 4.25 million drug users in Pakistan were considered dependent on substances and required a form of structured intervention for treatment of their drug use disorder, the report said.

It said that due to its large share of the population, the Punjab had the highest number of drug users and people who injected drugs (PWID) with 2.9 million people using illicit substances in 2013, and approximately 260,000 people who inject drugs. The number of people who inject drugs is estimated to 430,000 nationwide.

According to the report, approximately 80 per cent of PWID in the Punjab share syringes regularly, whereas two-thirds report doing so in Sindh and Balochistan, and half in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Among PWID, 73 per cent reported sharing syringes, claiming lack of access to sterile injecting equipment.

The report pointed out that among the general population, only 13 per cent could accurately name three modes of HIV transmission.

Approximately 1.5 per cent of the population (1.6 million people) reported non-medical use of prescription opioids (painkillers) in the past year.

While men were found to use more drugs than women for most drug types, women were more likely to misuse tranquilisers and sedatives as well as amphetamines, the report said.

Overall in Pakistan, approximately 6 per cent of the population (6.7 million people) used controlled substance and misused prescription drugs, the report said.

In addition to drug use, the report pointed to warning signs for a rapid expansion of the HIV epidemic. Survey results detected a high prevalence of HIV risk behaviours among people who injected drugs.

“Because the majority of HIV positive people who inject drugs are not aware of their status, they are also not taking precautions to prevent further transmission,” the report pointed out.

Cannabis was the most commonly-used drug, with a prevalence of 3.6 per cent of the population (4 million users nationwide).

Poly-drug use was also found to be common, with one in five people reporting using more than one controlled substance in the past year.

An estimated 860,000 people (0.8 per cent of the population) were regular heroin users and 320,000 used opium.

The majority of drug users surveyed were between 25 and 39 years of age Cannabis use was highest among 30 to 34 year olds and heroin use was highest among 35 to 39 years olds.

(By Our Correspondent) Published in GNN & Tribune, May 23rd, 2014.

Ban on wheat supply: Potohar region flour millers threaten to launch protest drive

RAWALPINDI: Flour millers of the Potohar region have threatened to launch a protest drive if their loaded trucks were not released by the authorities in Punjab.

At an emergency meeting held in Islamabad on Thursday, representatives of the flour mills said that trucks supplying wheat to flour mills of the Potohar region were being stopped and unloaded at Sargodha, Wazirabad, Jhang and Mianwali, which may cause a flour crisis in the Potohar region.

The Punjab government has clamped a ban on wheat supply to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) from Punjab.

Talking to Tribune, Islamabad Traders’ Action Committee Secretary Information Khalid Chaudhry said that 140 mills were facing an acute shortage of wheat after the trucks were stopped in different cities of Punjab. He said that if the practice persisted, mills in the Potohar region will not be able to supply flour to the market.

He said Punjab and Sindh have produced 2 million tons of wheat beyond their set target. He said that the Punjab Food Department, PASCO and the private sector have sufficient stocks, but an artificial shortage was being created.

Traders Action Committee Chairman Sheikh Muhammad Shabbir said that provincial government instead of stopping trucks supplying wheat to K-P, the provincial government was punishing mills in the Potohar region.

He also condemned the ban on wheat supply to K-P, terming it unjust.

“Punishing the PTI-led government in K-P will add to the peoples’ miseries in the province,” he said.
They demanded that the Punjab chief minister and prime minister intervene and ensure smooth supply of wheat to flour mills in the Potohar region.

(By Our Correspondent) Published in GNN & Tribune, May 23rd, 2014.

Anti-polio campaign: ‘Virus being transmitted to other areas from KPK’

The administration of polio drops to children coming from the FATA was the KPK government’s responsibility. PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE: Children travelling from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa into Punjab are carrying the polio virus with them, Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique said on Monday. The environmental samples taken from Outfall Road’s sewerage water contained the virus similar to that circulating in the KPK.

He said thousands of children in KPK are deprived of polio vaccination.

He was speaking after administering polio drops in Santnagar to launch a three-day vaccination campaign in Lahore. Rafique said that due to the effective and concrete steps taken by the government, Punjab would become polio-free this year.

Rafique said politicians should not waste their energy on agitation but strive instead to eradicate polio from the country. Rafique said the Punjab government had taken concrete steps to eradicate polio but to root it out from the entire country it was necessary to ensure polio teams access to ‘no-go’ areas in all provinces.

Rafique said three anti-polio campaigns would be carried out in Lahore during May. He said the first campaign was being carried out from May 5 to 7, and the other two would be launched in the second and third week of May.

He said special anti-polio campaigns had been scheduled in 10 high risk districts: Dera Ghazi Khan, Lahore, Mianwali, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Rawalpindi, Rahim Yar Khan, Sahiwal and Toba Tek Singh. Rafique said 773,000 children would be vaccinated during the three-day campaign in Lahore. The vaccination target for the 10 districts is about 5.2 million children.

Rafique said the top leadership in the Punjab was fully committed to the eradication of polio. He said the government had made arrangements for vaccinating children travelling by buses or trains through Punjab. He said check posts had been set up at all entry points of the province.

Rafique said the administration of polio drops to children coming from the FATA was the KPK government’s responsibility. He said there was a need for national spirit and commitment.

Published in GNN & Tribune, May 6th, 2014.