Lahore: Written by: Ayesha Sagheer
The trend of drug use among women in Pakistan is increasing at an alarming rate, leading to smoking, which is very popular in public, then moving beyond cigarettes to alcohol, hashish, cocaine, crystal and ice. While the use of hashish is relatively high among women.
According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime survey 2012 and 2013, about six percent of Pakistan’s population, which is equivalent to six hundred and seven million people, have used drugs other than alcohol and tobacco in the past year. Among them are 9% men and 2.9% women. Today in 2024 the number will be much higher.
There is no data on the number of young girls and women suffering from drug addiction in Pakistan, but according to the management of the rehabilitation centers, a large number of women come to the centers for treatment.
According to Dr. Shamila Batul, who works as a psychologist in a large rehabilitation center in Lahore city, many parents prefer to treat their girls at home instead of taking them to rehabilitation centers for fear of stigma. Data on drug-addicted women is hard to come by.
Zoneera, a girl who got treatment from another rehabilitation center, says that she went into severe depression due to not getting a job despite her higher education. Her family used to say the same. All my cousins were doing good jobs but I started going to parties with friends to keep myself busy.
“It was on the insistence of friends there that I first started drinking alcohol and later started using other drugs,” Zonera said. At first, my family didn’t know, but when my mother came to know, by that time I was addicted to ice and my condition had worsened. My family got very angry and locked me in the room.
Zonera says that she got very angry with her family and ran away from home, only to reach the house of the same friend who had given her ice in the first place. From there we two friends went to a party organized at a third friend’s flat in Defence, but there was an incident that changed my life.
Zonera said that one of his friends who was at the party jumped from the tenth floor in a drunken state and lost his life, after which the police arrived and took away all our friends who were there. He said that I was so scared by this incident that I asked my parents to get me treated, Zonera says my treatment is going on and now I am better than before.
Mahim, who belongs to Lahore, said that in the society where she grew up, alcohol, hashish and cocaine are common and are considered a status symbol. Maham said that she studies in a private university and almost all her friends take drugs, but I myself do not use ice, heroin and injecting drugs.
He said that we take care of each other so that we don’t take too many drugs and we keep an eye on each other in parties too. If someone in our group tries to overdose, there are guards who escort such friends out of the party.
Clinical psychologist Jahan Ara Rana says that one of the biggest signs of addicts is that their routine changes. Sleep, wake up, eat, drink and even stay away from family. In such a case, the family needs to be alert and when it comes to know that the daughter or sister is addicted to drugs, instead of covering it up and waiting for things to get better by themselves, they need to act immediately. But should go to treatment.
Dr. Jahan Ara further said that drug addiction is a regular disease, just like other diseases are treated, it is also necessary to treat this disease and even after complete recovery, the patient should be continuously monitored because drug addiction They may relapse into drug addiction.
According to Director Drug Advisory Training Hub Syed Zulfiqar Hussain, the number of youths who are addicted to ice has increased by 40% in 2023 in Lahore, while 560 homeless unknown drug addicts have lost their lives on the streets due to drug abuse. . 40% of people who inject drugs on the streets have AIDS.
Syed Zulfiqar Hussain believes that the main reason for the increase in drug use in the country is the easy availability of drugs, the growing trend of drugs among the young generation has also been felt at the government level and that is why the Punjab government has announced Drug Free Punjab. Launched a campaign under which action against drug dealers has been accelerated in various districts including Lahore.
According to the spokesperson of Punjab Police, on the instructions of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, the police registered 7,000 cases and arrested 7,500 drug dealers in the last 20 days, while 4,897 kg of hashish, 26 kg of ice, 210 1 kg of opium and 88 kg of heroin have been recovered.
In this regard, IG Punjab Usman Anwar said that the accused who are destroying the future of the young generation will be brought under the grip of the law and punished.
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