Opiate abuse among Pakistanis rises: report

ISLAMABAD: The International Narcotics Control Board’s 2014 report, issued last week, has serious warnings for Pakistan on account of the major growth in opiate abuse among adult Pakistanis, alarmingly high number of HIV-positive drug addicts and drug trafficking.
Not only has the annual prevalence of opiate abuse among adult Pakistanis grown by almost 40 percent during recent years, but the number of HIV-positive people who inject drugs in Pakistan is estimated to be 37 percent.
The INCB 2014 report says, “The annual prevalence of opiate abuse among adult Pakistanis aged 15-64 years has grown from 0.7 percent in 2006 to 1.0 percent in 2013, concurrent with increases in trafficking of opiates via Pakistan.”
For narcotics trafficking, Pakistan continues to be a problem for other countries. The report says that tons of shipments of cannabis resin is supplied to Western countries from Pakistan.According to the INCB Report, “The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime indicates that while there is no evidence of cannabis resin from Afghanistan being trafficked along the Balkan route, there have been reports of multi-ton shipments of cannabis resin being transported by sea from Pakistan directly to Western and Central Europe.”
The report added that seizures of cannabis herb increased by two thirds in Greece from 2011 to 2012, with indications that the country may be developing into a trafficking hub for cannabis herb; a large decrease in cannabis cultivation was seen in that country in 2013.
The report indicates that the South Asia region, owing to its location between the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan and Pakistan) and the Golden Triangle (Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Thailand), continued to be particularly vulnerable to the trafficking of opiates and heroin. In addition, widespread trafficking of cannabis, synthetic drugs and new psychotropic substances persisted in 2013.
The report says that nearly 20 percent of the world’s opiate abusers reside in West Asia, as increasing production of opium in Afghanistan has resulted in greater abuse of opium and heroin, primarily in that country and in neighbouring countries located along the recently-expanding trafficking routes.
“For example, the annual prevalence of opiate abuse among adult Pakistanis aged 15-64 years has grown from 0.7 percent in 2006 to 1.0 percent in 2013, concurrent with increases in trafficking of opiates via Pakistan. In addition to Pakistan, UNODC estimates the current annual prevalence of opiate abuse among adults to be highest in Afghanistan (2.3-3 percent), Azerbaijan (1.3-1.7 percent) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (2.3 percent).”
It added that the spread of disease through unsafe injecting practices, such as the sharing of used injecting equipment, continues to be a significant problem in several countries in West Asia.
“The prevalence rates for opiate abuse by injection among the general population in Afghanistan, Iran (Islamic Republic of) and Pakistan are among the highest in the world, estimated to be 1.5 percent of the adult population in those three countries,” the report said.
It added, “Countries with a high prevalence of opiate abuse tend to have an elevated prevalence of people who inject drugs and are also living with HIV. For example, 28.8 percent of people who inject drugs in South-West Asia were estimated to be HIV-positive, more than double the global prevalence among people who inject drugs, which was estimated to be 13.1 percent in 2012. The prevalence rate for South-West Asia largely reflects the high prevalence of HIV-positive people among people who inject drugs in Pakistan, estimated to be 37 percent.”
According to the report, trafficking of heroin to the European Union along the so-called “southern route” is increasing, with heroin trafficked south from Afghanistan, via the Near and Middle East and Africa, as well as directly from Pakistan. Belgium and the Netherlands, the report said, continue to be used for the transit of opiates trafficked along both the Balkan and southern routes. For example, opiates from Afghanistan arrive in the United Kingdom, mostly from Pakistan, but also via Belgium (where seizures of heroin increased sharply in 2013) and the Netherlands. All of the heroin trafficked by passenger aircraft to Belgium in 2013 arrived from East Africa.
Lochan Naidoo, President International Narcotics Control Board, said in the report that in tackling the world drug problem, all countries face shared challenges and have a common purpose in promoting the health and welfare of their peoples and, together, of humankind. To this end, he added, the international community will continue to count on the drug control treaties, international instruments that have withstood the test of time and remain relevant to addressing future challenges. All that is required is the continued commitment of all States to act in concert in the effective implementation of those instruments.