PAKISTAN: HALF-MILLION HARD-CORE HEROIN ADDICTS AND COUNTING

By Palash R. Ghosh

Of Pakistan's many social ills, perhaps one of the most intractable problems the country faces has to do with hard drugs -- not only is Pakistan the principal hub for heroin smuggled out of neighboring Afghanistan, the country is also a massive consumer of narcotics itself.

Last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned that Pakistanis consume heroin valued at $1.2 billion every year.

While Pakistanis abuse a vast cornucopia of drugs, including cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines, the U.N. estimated that there are at least 500,000 hard-core heroin addicts in the country -- a direct result of the fact that Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the global opium and heroin, almost half of which is trafficked through Pakistan.

"Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to the trafficking of Afghan opiates and this poses a burden on public health, criminal justice and security systems," said Jeremy Douglas, UNODC representative in Pakistan in a statement.

In fact, the three Afghan provinces which grow the most poppy (the source of opium and heroin) -- Helmand, Kandahar and Farah - all border Pakistan. The two countries share a porous border that is about 1,500 miles long and virtually impossible to monitor.

Sher Ali Arbab, the national research development program officer at UNODC, told China's Xinhua news agency: "The drug traffickers have ... succeeded in forming a mini-market of heroin in Pakistan due to lawlessness in the [northwestern] tribal area which provides them an easy opportunity to transport drugs due to less influence of law enforcement agencies in the semi- autonomous tribal area."

These drugs are designed for markets in Europe, Russia, Australia and the U.S. -- however, much of it is left behind and used by people in Pakistan, Afghanistan as well as Iran, thereby creating a huge social problem that none of these nations are prepared to deal with. *For example, NPR reported that one-twelfth of Afghanistan's population -- about 3 million people -- is estimated to abuse drugs).

Continue Reading: ibtimes.com