At last the penetration of narcotics has caught the attention of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah who has ordered a high-powered task force to curb this problem, especially in educational institutions. The use of drugs in schools and colleges, especially the elite ones, is quite a new phenomenon, which has occasionally made headlines because of deaths of students from overdose. Seeing the prevalence of drugs, the chief minister reportedly said that we all had to work together to stop it right from the borders to cities to schools. His statement points to the failure of the law-enforcement agencies and border control bodies. For years, heroin and cannabis are being smuggled here from Afghanistan, cocaine from South Africa and synthesis and ice from China. Similarly, the widespread use of drugs on streets and campuses is the utter failure of families and parents to keep their youth on the right track. In all, the whole society should be blamed for the fiasco.
The new Sindh body to control drug abuse – the Chief Minister’s Task Force on Narcotics Control – includes the chief minister as the head and director general of Sindh Rangers, inspector general of police, excise and health ministers and secretaries, chief minister’s law adviser, regional director of the Anti-Narcotics Force and provincial heads of intelligence agencies as members. The results of the top-down approach will be measured in terms of controlling drug trafficking and coordinating with administrations of schools and colleges. Under the body, three sub-committees have been tasked with checking inter-provincial borders for surveillance on drug traffickers, monitoring and conducting operations against drug dealers, and coordinating with educational institutions to stop drug penetration.
Recently, Federal Minister Sheheryar Afridi announced conducting students’ drug tests across the country to ascertain the level of drug use in schools. The new task force may coordinate with the ministry as well as other provinces to launch a coordinated war on drugs in campuses. Most of the addicts start their catastrophic journey as recreational users only to end up as hardened addicts ready to be exploited by gangs of drugs dealers. While control on drug delivery is important, the rehabilitation of addicts should also be taken into consideration. *