Govt, UNODC to tackle drug addiction among quake victims
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—The ministries of Narcotics Control and Health and the UN Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) will jointly work to prevent possiblity of multiple stresses leading to drug addiction among quake victims, a workshop was told here Monday.
The workshop was organized by UNODC in collaboration with the Pakistan Insitute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) to create awareness about the problem and discuss ways to tackle it.
UNODC representative Vincent McClean told the participants that anxiety, depression and stresses emanating from unemployment, physical disability and loss of life and property could drive quake victims toward drug addiction.
A Director of the Anti Narcotics Force, Anwar Hanif, said drug abuse was already a serious phenomenon as the country had some four million addicts, including 500,000 heroin consumers.
He said it was necessary to take timely measures to avert risk of drug proliferation among the people affected by the October 8 natrual disaster.
Hanif said the Ministry of Narcotics Control together with the Ministry of Health and UNODC would undertake awareness campaigns about drug abuse in the quake-affected areas.
He urged the media to play its role in highlighting the issue and aiding the preventive efforts. Professor of Psychiatry at PIMS Dr. Rizwan Taj spoke about traumatic effects of the earthquake calamity that killed tens of thosuands, injured as many and left millions homeless.
He said more than 600 amputations had to be carried out while 20,000 people were suffering from serious mental illness and many more were psychologically unstable. In such a situation upto 20 percent of quake victims and possibly much more could fall into the drug trap, he said.
Taj said the Health Ministry had already formed 40 teams with the support of the World Health Organization and the International Organization of Migration for trauma counselling and related work in the quake areas.
These teams were working in Muzaffrabad, Bagh, Mansehra, Balakot, Rawlakot, Alia, Piam and Battgram, he said, adding thatinitially 30 psychologists were deployed in the region.