Former IG Punjab Police and Project Director Drug Free City, Altaf Qamar, has said that over 9 million Pakistanis were addicted to drugs among which 2 to 2.5 million were 15 to 25 years old, 2 hundred thousand were women, sixty percent were literate and forty percent were found illiterate while annually 500,000 were becoming addict to various types of drugs.
He was addressing a seminar organized by Department of Applied Psychology in collaboration with Anti Narcotic Force at the Undergraduate Study Centre in Punjab University on Wednesday. Prof Dr Rukhsana Kausar, faculty members and a large number of students took part in the seminar. Mr Qamar stated that all substances including cigarette, alcohol, hashish, heroin, Gutka and Sheesha were injurious to health and caused high blood pressure, heart diseases and mouth and throat cancer. He said that people start smoking as a fashion and then become addicted to it. He said that drug addicts also committed social crimes.
Rukhsana said that drug abuse also known as substance abuse referred to the excessive and harmful use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. She said that the use of psychoactive substances could lead to a cluster of behavioural, cognitive and physiological phenomena that developed after repeated substance use. She said drug abuse led to a wide range of problems and significant distress among the sufferers, family, community and society. She said it incapacitated one, psychologically, socially, academically and financially. She said that there were several factors that could cause drug addiction but with the right drug addiction treatment, anybody could be reformed to lead a healthy and productive life. 2 documentaries were also screened at the event to create awareness among students regarding drug abuse.
