The easy availability of drugs on streets, universities and colleges is an absolute failure on part of Police and excise department. Sadly, the rise in cases of drug abuse is among the youth in particular the students of renowned universities and colleges. The findings of the data show that since 2016, at least 9,885kgs of heroin, 1,440kgs of hashish and 33kgs of opium were seized in special raids conducted on educational institutions. A few years ago, a medical student from a well-known university in Karachi lost his life to overdose of a drug (hashish). Additionally, a similar incident was reported from a renowned university in Lahore and several other cases of deaths from drug overdose go unreported in Pakistan.
The “Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997” is a special law which the Legislature had enacted mainly for awarding deterrent punishments to the persons involved in the trade of narcotics in any manner. Section 9(c) of the Control of Narcotics Act, specifically provides that “ whoever contravenes the provisions of Sections 6, 7 or 8 of the control of narcotics act, shall be punishable with death or imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for a term which may extend to fourteen years and shall also be liable to fine which may be up to one million rupees, if the quantity of narcotic drug, psychotropic substance or controlled substance exceeds the limits specified in clause (b) (1 Kilograms)” However the overview of the FIRs/cases lodged under Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997 in the year 2017 alone demonstrates the misuse of the law/Act by the Police, by way of lodging false and fabricated FIRs against innocent citizens and most importantly, an utter failure on part of Police officials and prosecution to conduct flawless investigations in genuine cases.
It is important that the malicious acts of the police and criminal negligence in the investigation of the genuine cases, must not be brushed aside. It is incumbent upon the senior police officials to conduct in-depth inquiries against the investigation officers and the complainant of the cases register under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997, in which the accused persons are ultimately acquitted by the courts and the FIRs/cases are subsequently quashed.
ARSALAN RAJA (Advocate)
Karachi