TO: The Honourable President of Pakistan
FROM: Drug Policy Advisor
SUBJECT: Health and harm reduction: Pakistan’s Future
DATE: 29/10/2013
Pakistan's geographic location next to world's largest producer of illicit opium, places the country in vulnerable position and it has emerged as popular transit nation for drug trafficking. Afghanistan produces an estimated 60-70 % of the world’s supply of illicit opiates, 45% of that cross into Pakistan, en route to destination markets.(UNODC Report on PAK)
Identification of Key Issues
Porous borders and widespread corruption in the shipment officials (sea ports of Karachi and Port Qasim) that extends deep into the throats of Security forces as well (Pak Anti-Narcotics Policy Papers)
Household Population Survey (UNODC. “Drug Use in Pakistan 2013”)
Cannabis Most commonly used drug
ATS and cocaine Increasing
Most commonly misused substances Opioid-based painkillers followed by tranquilizers and sedatives
Women: More likely to consume amphetamines and painkillers
4,20,000 people who inject drugs (PWIDs)
Use of contaminated injecting equipment among PWIDs One of the major routes of HIV transmission
Almost 3/4th of opiate-using PWIDs share injecting equipment
Regular opiate users who inject drugs 73% reported sharing syringes either before or after someone else; Reason There was only one needle available
Regular cannabis More than 1/3rd between 20 and 29
Heroin 30-34 = 53%; Mean age of opiate users=37
The drug use by our young generation is rising at an alarming rate and can be detrimental to a developing economy like ours
Alarming spike in injection of illicit drugs among young adults A serious threat to the national economy as it lowers...
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... raise the Life Expectancy at Birth criteria and improve HDI World Ranking
Improving the employees’ conditions that will bring up the efficiency and will have a direct impact on creating an enthusiastic economic environment which in turn will initiate and investor-friendly climate
AA28652
Bibliography
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Ministry of Narcotics Control. “Drug Use in Pakistan 2013: Technical Summary Report”
Ministry of counter Narcotics, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. “National Drug controls Strategy”
Pakistan Anti-Narcotics Policy Papers 2010
Society for Sustainable Development. “Recommendations for Sustainable Development for changes in Pakistan Anti-Narcotics Policy”
The Dawn. “Drug Trade in Afghanistan and Pakistan”
Stonebraker, Robert. “Supply-Side Drug Policy: Will It Ever Work?”
The Dawn. “Pakistan’s Drug Menace”
Approximately given 80 to 90 million Americans have tried an illicit drug at least which once in their lives; marijuana alone is tried for the first time by about 6,400 Americans everyday. Furthermore, illicit drugs seem to be relatively easy to attain- in for 1999, 90 percent said which this about marijuana, also 44 percent about cocaine and finally 32 percent about heroin. Yearly, for which 35 million dollars is given just to control illicit drug trafficking. Moreover, over 400,000 of drug offenders caught are in jail, of which, some 130,000 are which for possession. Not for only are these statistics a international obvious embarrassment but because for these quantities which have been growing throughout history, we can only assume that they will get worse. We can already begin to for imagine the costs of these numbers which is it not already clear that we need for to find an alternative approach to this
Quan, V. M., Go, V. F., Nam, L. V., Bergenstrom, A., Thuoc, N. P., Zenilman, J., ...Celentano, D.D. (2009). Risks for HIV, HBV, and HCV infections among male injection drug users in northern Vietnam: a case-control study. AIDS Care, 21(1), 7-16.
Concerned authorities have focused essentially on criminalization and punishment, to find remedies to the ever-increasing prevalent drug problem. In the name of drug reducing policies, authorities endorse more corrective and expensive drug control methods and officials approve stricter new drug war policies, violating numerous human rights. Regardless of or perhaps because of these efforts, UN agencies estimate the annual revenue generated by the illegal drug industry at $US400 billion, or the equivalent of roughly eight per cent of total international trade (Riley 1998). This trade has increased organized/unorganized crime, corrupted authorities and police officials, raised violence, disrupted economic markets, increased risk of diseases an...
The biggest question people ask is if the “war on drugs” was successful. According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), “The goals of the program are to reduce illicit drug use, manufacturing and trafficking, drug-related crime and violence, and drug-related health consequences.” The best way to measure the effectiveness of the “war on drugs” is to focus on these basic questions; Is drug use down? Is crime down? and Are drugs less available? Since 1988, drug use by individuals ages 12 and over has remained stable according to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). The number of individuals reporting any drug use has increased by approximately 7 million and the number of those who reported drug use in previous months or previous years has remained unchanged. The Organization Monitoring the Future studies drug use, access to drugs, and perspectives towards drugs of junior and senior high school students nationwide. Results of a study conducted in 2005 showed a minor decline in substance abuse by older teens, but drug use among eighth graders stopped remained the same. However, the changes were not statistically significant and ultimately there was no reduction in substance abuse among young students. Crime in the United States has decreased significantly since 1993, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. On the other hand,
...as an HIV Prevention... : JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. [online] Available at: http://journals.lww.com/jaids/Abstract/2001/11010/Cost_Effectiveness_of_Syringe_Exchange_as_an_HIV.12.aspx [Accessed 3 Apr. 2014].
The study conducted by MacNeil & Pauly (2011) focused on the perspective of the people who use the needle exchange programs in Canada. To receive the data from the injecting drug users, the researchers first recruited most of their participants from four needle exchange sites. There were a total of 33 people who participated (23 men and 10 women) in this study. The average age of the participants was 40.3 years of age, for men, the average was 43, whereas for women it was 34 years old. The participants were either homeless or were on government assistance programs. Out of the 33 participants, six of them reported being HIV positive (18%) and 16 reported being diagnosed wi...
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The rates of drug use by race and gender are disproportionate to the rates of incarceration for non-violent drug crimes. There are numerous ways to measure rates of drug usage. A look at lifetime rates may be useful as it shows how much of the population has ever tried illicit d...
Drug trafficking is a prohibited, global trade that involves the production, the distribution, and the sales of drugs. It is a topic that has become a very large issue all over the world. It also has had a very big effect on many different countries because they often depend on the business that the drug trafficking creates. Since it has become such a problem, there have been many different efforts to put a stop to drug trafficking by different enforcement agencies. A website about drug statistics, drugabuse.net, indicated that the Drug Enforcement Agency or DEA, as it is well known as, makes over thirty thousand arrests each year dealing with the illegal sales or distribution of drugs. It is also believed that Mexico’s economy would shrink by over sixty-three percent if they lost their drug trafficking industry. There are many different tribulations like this that drug trafficking has created. Many people see it as such a vital asset to some countries, so it has emerged as an extremely big business that brings in a boatload of money. Just like any other immense problem, drug trafficking has its causes and effects
Drug arrests occur too often and are taking up a majority of general arrests in America. “Drug arrests were the single largest category of arrests, accounting for more than 10% of all arrests in the country” (A drug, 2015). One out of ten of every arrest in the United States of America is a drug arrest. This over focus on drug arrests needs to stop as it is taking focus off of more damaging violent crimes. Overall drug arrests are up 8.3% from a decade ago” (A drug, 2015). Drug crimes are increasing because of the American government increased focus on drug crimes, despite the fact that it is not helping the problem. Even though drug arrests are going up, drug use in the United States of America is “... plentiful and widely used as ever” (Grenier,
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