Daily Times

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore Additional IG Ghulam Mahmood Dogar Saturday said that society must play its role to curb drug abuse among people, especially the youth, to make Pakistan a drug-free country.

He was addressing the annual award distribution ceremony, held here in connection with observance of the ‘International Day against Drugs Abuse and Illicit Trafficking 2021’, under the auspices of the Drug Advisory Training Hub. ‘Share Drug Facts to Save Lives’ was the theme of the day this year.

The CCPO told the event participants, “Together, we can tackle the drug crisis and eliminate this menace from society”. He regretted that the youth, even from educated families, had been falling victim to drugs. The whole family, and ultimately, the whole society is destroyed if a single member falls victim to drugs, he added.

Ghulam Mahmood Dogar said “we will have to focus on four major elements including supply and demand of drugs, strong prosecution of cases and most importantly rehabilitation of the addicts, to tackle the problem.

He said the Lahore Police had initiated a vigorous crackdown on narcotics dealers to cut the supply line of drugs. It had arrested around 5,000 drug-sellers and recovered 30 per cent more drugs this year than last year. The Lahore police recovered over 2.25 tons of charas, 43-kg heroin, 10-kg ICE and more than 55,000 bottles of liquor during this year. He said the Lahore police arranged different meetings with sessions judge and district prosecutor, formulating a scrutiny committee as well to ensure proper preparation and finalisation of cases against the arrested drug-traffickers and their conviction from the relevant courts.

Dogar said the last element, rehabilitation of the addicts, was the most important task, as drug-addicts could be seen almost everywhere in the city, on roadsides, under bridges, and on greenbelts. It depicted an ugly picture of our society in the world, he regretted.

Commissioner Lahore Capt (retd) Muhammad Usman also spoke at the ceremony. Shields were awarded to citizens and the government officers who performed well in rehabilitation of drug-addicts. Chairman Women Development Task Force Punjab Tanzeela Imran Khan, Director DATH Syed Zulfiqar Hussain, social worker Shahid Qadir, office-bearers of traders associations, industrialists, medical experts and people from different spheres of life attended the ceremony.