Iqra Liaqat
In recent times drug addiction in Pakistan has assumed menacing proportions and the evil is increasing by leaps and bounds. It is wide-spread in the hotels and campuses of the universities and technical and professional institutions of the country. Charas, ganja, bhang, heroin, smack or brown sugar and even LSD are in great demand and are purchased at exorbitant prices.
Taking of drugs is a great evil. A number of causes are responsible for makingthis evil. In many homes, growing boys and girls do not get the love, care andattention, which they should receive at this tender age. Often both the father andthe mother are in service and,consequently, have no time to look after thechildren. In other cases, the husband and the wife are not on good terms witheach other. They often quarrel; the quarrel increase in intensity and violence, andlife in the home becomes most unhappy and unpleasant. Such quarrels lead evenwife to divorce and the breaking up of the family.
In still other cases, the father remains busy in his business or office-work and the mother remains too busy in her social life to look after the children. The result is that the young people in such homes feel lonely and neglected. They feel frustrated. Deprived totally of parental love and affection, they seek consolation elsewhere. They go astray. Their so-called friends, who are themselves drug 1 to say addicted, mislead them and induce them, at least, to have a taste of it. The drug sellers fully exploit them.
Drugs are in the beginning provided to them quite cheap but the price goes on increasing as this evil habit takes hold of them and hey can no longer do without drugs. Drug addiction is an acute problem, which has defied all efforts at its so far. The drug addict cannot do without the drug even for a short while nd the habit goes on increasing and soon the addict finds himself a helpless im of this degraded habit. He must get his dose of it at the fixed time and if does not get it he weeps, cries, and becomes incapable of the least moment. result is that he borrows money or he steals it from his own home or from any other place which may be within his reach. Their so-called friends or thesellers of these vicious drugs exploit him or her in various ways.
The drug addicts steal and quarrel with their parents and other members of the family so much that the life in the home becomes a hell. Often results in suicide and the ruin of the whole family. The only beneficiaries are the vendors of these drugs. They thrive while their victim perishes. Total eradication of this evil is the urgent need of the hour and fight against it must be undertaken on a war footing and on a number of fronts. Public opinion must be created against it, the different media of mass communication – the press, the radio, the television, the cinema, the public platform, and the classrooms must be pressed into service to combat the evil. In this the people more particularly the youth, must be made aware of the evil consequences of this habit. They must be made torealized that the friends who initiate them into this evil practice are not their friendsbut their enemies. They exploit them for their own nefarious ends. Secondly, there must be a concentrated drive against smugglers who smuggle these drugs into the country and make huge profits by selling it to their unlucky, helpless victims. Thirdly, de-addiction centers must be established at least in all major cities where the victim of these vicious practices may be treated and gradually weaned away from it. The drug addicts need sympathy and an understanding of their problems. They should be treated as essentially sick people and not condemned as wicked criminals. Change in social attitude is also essential for the successful tackling of the problem. We are glad to know that the government is fully alive to the urgency of this problem. Mass media have already begun to stress this problem and form public opinion against it. Programmes aimed at the eradication of this evil are televised frequently. The drive against smugglers and vendors of these drugs has been intensified and huge quantities are being seized everyday. De-addiction centers for the treatment of these helpless people have already been established in cities and it is hoped that more and more areas would soon have such centers. The fight against this social evil has begun, and its eradication is a matter of time only.
