Punjab police appears to have taken a cue from a hard-hitting quote, “A million death from drug abuse is a statistic.” Although the authoritarian Stalin had also called for public executions, our forces would, of course, prefer to play by the book. A pilot project in Faisalabad aspires to treat highly addictive crystal meth, commonly known as ice, as an endemic first, crime later. A wide array of activities targetting the young generation found to be more inclined towards drug dependence have been planned in line with international research and with input from vice-chancellors from universities as well as psychiatrists. For a much-needed out-of-the-box initiative, which surprisingly makes use of mobile technology, all officers involved in this noble cause deserve a pat on their backs. But while the police jumped to action at the highly-reported interplay with violence, a steep rise in drug-related death statistics was enough of a reason (on its own) to consider this threat with seriousness. Problems with drugs are no longer a horrifying sob tale limited to television series set in the obscene world. Growing by leaps and bounds, as many as 27 million Pakistanis–even by conservative estimates–struggle with drug abuse. The actual picture may be several shades gorier because of an overall reluctance in talking about the issue over fears of public backlash. That the numbers are quickly rising among the educated members of society, mostly in educational institutes and especially those from wealthy backgrounds, calls for the even louder ringing of the alarm bells. If people willingly choose to fall prey to this stimulant despite knowing the consequent tendency to become angrier, hostile and prone to violence, how can society expect those, who are unaware of the threats, to stay put? More distressingly, treatment and specialist interventions remain in critically short supply as a staggering 99.7 per cent of those who knock on these rehabilitation centres cannot afford such a big dent in their pockets. However, affordability is not an issue for those who have developed a sweet tooth for synthetic stimulants. In their cases, it is largely the familial preference of maintaining appearances. While the first step is the hardest in pursuit of any success story, law enforcement agencies have definitely done a wonderful job of having opened the book. Still, Faisalabad should only be the beginning act in a comprehensive operation that does not stop at reforming addicts but also launches full-fledged operations against street peddlers as well as the hotspots of influential, deep-pocketed agents. We know exactly what would work to prevent so many unnecessary deaths. All that’s needed is a little more empathy for human lives and the determination to bring about a better tomorrow. *