Lawmakers urged to legislate for rehabilitation of drug addicts

Representatives of the Save The Life Organisation (STLO), a Lyari-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), called for legislation on the issue of drug addiction during a walk organised on Wednesday in Lyari to mark International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The STLO speakers said the drug addiction, also called substance use disorder, was a disease that affected a person's brain and behaviour and led to an inability to control the craving to consume a legal or illegal drug or medication. Substances such as alcohol, marijuana and nicotine were considered drugs, they said.

“When you're addicted, you may continue using the drug despite the harm it causes,” said STLO President Saeed Bahmri. A large number of general people of Lyari along with social and political activists of the area participated in the walk to create awareness about the hazards of drug abuse and illicit trafficking. Carrying banners and placards, the participants shouted slogans for a society free of drugs so that the new generation could be saved from the menace of drug addiction.

STLO leaders said drug addiction was a disease and the lawmakers must introduce laws for the effective rehabilitation of those suffering from it. With the march, a movement for eliminating drugs from society had been launched in Lyari, they said.

“Around eight million people start taking drugs in one year,” said Syed Abdul Rasheed, an MPA belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami elected from the Lyari area. A total of 40,000 people lost their lives due to drugs in the last year alone, he said. STLO Secretary Rasheed Baloch also spoke on the occasion. It is pertinent to mention here that some renowned political and social activists in Lyari launched movements in the past against drug addiction in the old town of the city.