KARACHI: Although, the Sindh government has earmarked around Rs 139 billion to improve health facilities in the province, however it seems that the Sindh government is least concerned for the rehabilitation of the drug-dependent people that mainly includes youth and students.

In Sindh, mostly schools and hospitals are being handed over to private parties on public private partnership (PPP) mode to improve delivery of health facilities to the people of the province however the authorities concerned never bothered to think of establishing drug rehabilitation centers to save precious lives of the drug addicts.  

In July 2019, the lawmakers in the Sindh Assembly from both sides of the aisle had passed a resolution with a request to establish rehabilitation centers for people addicted to drugs and to take care of educational institutions that have become nurseries of drugs use. Interestingly, the lawmakers themselves and the government functionaries never bothered to take up this alarming issue as serious.  

Not the whole province, if one considers about the worsening situation in the Karachi that according to a UNODC report in 2008 as some 14 tons of Acetic Anhydrate was seized in one interdiction made by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), besides the port city has also a large number of licensed-wine shops, easy availability of hashish and almost all kinds of deadly drugs.

Within the whole scenario, the Sindh government and the city administration need to chalk out a comprehensive strategy to contain drug peddling and work for the rehabilitation of people who have become addicted to various drugs. There are only three to four drugs rehabilitation centers in the city which are working for the improvement of health of drug addicts and make them respectable citizen of the society once again.

ADDICARE Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center – is the only drug treatment center which is providing state-of-the-art rehabilitation services to the drug addicts, provide them with proper psychological and medical treatment in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal near Dow University of Health Science (DUHS), Mosmiyat.

While talking to Sindhnews, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Addicare, Manzoor Hussain Kandhro told that there is no such well-equipped drug rehabilitation center that could provide rehabilitation sessions to drugs addicts. “Addicare is a 75-beded rehabilitation center and as many as 2,200 drug addicts have so far been treated/rehabilitated at the center since its establishment in year 2014”, he added.

Informing about his interests in serving the humanity, Manzoor said he used to work as ward-boy with Gulberg Pakistan Society when he was a college student in 1986, adding that he felt so relaxed to serve drug addicts. “The motivation to work for humanity and drug addicts has taken several years that led to establishment of the drug rehabilitation center in Karachi”, he said.

According to CEO, the Karachi remains one of the hot-spot for drugs due to frequent misuse of transit trade with Afghanistan. Similarly, according to UNODC, some of the highly processed drugs are transited through Karachi Port.

Quoting results of “Drug Use in Pakistan 2013 Survey”, the CEO Addicare said that the Sindh province is having second highest prevalence rate for cannabis consumption in the country and it is estimated 570,000 people used opiods (painkillers) and 34 percent used heroin, opium or both, adding that almost 100,000 drug users are estimated for injecting drugs.

The consumption of cannabis especially hashish is high with several genuine factors i.e. i) it is easily available in the city through networks attached with Afghan drug trade; ii) there is a erroneous belief among many that hashish is not forbidden in Islam and it does not fall in the category of liquor or alcohol; iii) there is no class division to consume hashish; iv) it is believed that hashish is non-addictive; v) hashish is cheaper than all drugs; and finally famous among transporters/truck drivers and the involvement of transporters in drugs trafficking.

In Pakistan, Manzoor says the total number of drug addicts as per a UN report is 7.6 million with 78% male and 22% female. The number of these addicts is increasing at the rate of 40,000 per year making Pakistan one of the most drug affected countries in the world.

Moreover, CEO Manzoor Hussain Kandhro said more than seven drug-dependent persons have been given jobs with heavy salaries at the Addicare after their rehabilitation procedure. “When a person is brought at the Addicare, he is asked to go through a test namely – Urine for Drug Abuse – so that the team of experts could start proper treatment of the drug-dependent person”.

Mr Kandhro said Addicare Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center provides various services which includes social welfare, crises intervention, mental health, medical, HIV/AIDS, aftercare, financial and family services.

The Addicare has a team of prominent psychiatrists, general physicians and psychologists and it follows different core components including intake processing/assessment; detoxification treatment plan; pharmacotherapy; continuing care; substance use monitoring; self-help/poor support groups; behavioral therapy and counseling; and clinical and case management.