he city has turned into a virtual hotbed of drug peddlers and drug addicts. Yet, the police, the Anti-Narcotics Force and the Excise Department turn a blind eye to the menace assuming alarming proportions in the metropolis. It is alleged that the authorities act as silent spectators because police can always make a quick buck from drug dealers.

The situation is so grave that one can see hordes of drug addicts across the city these days, especially along the Orange Train route.

One can also observe drug addicts in large numbers, injecting drugs of various kinds into one another or consuming marijuana, heroin or crystal methamphetamine or loitering under the influence of the drugs near the Excise Department offices, at Lahore Hotel Chowk, on Hall Road, in Rang Mahal area, in Qila Gujjar Singh, at Districts Courts, around the Data Darbar, in RA Bazaar, Shimla Pahari, at Boharwala Chowk, City railway station, Saddar, Township, College Road, Akbar Chowk, Ravi Road, Shafique Abad, Tibbi City, Gari Shahu, Gawalmandi, Circular Road, Mozang Chungi, Chauburji, Yateem Khana chowk, Scheme Mor, Gulshan-i-Ravi and Samanabad. Many city slums have also turned into drug dens.

The spread of narcotics is closely linked with crime against property in the provincial metropolis. Many of the drug addicts are involved in as beggary. In a recent incident, a clique attacked the staff of the Child Protection Bureau (CPB), including women in the Shafiqabad area. They were later found to be drug addicts. Media reports said the CPB team was trying to rescue a child beggar at Mohni Road near the Data Darbar area when it was attacked by a gang of beggars and some drug addicts.

The city division has surpassed the rest of Lahore in the spread of drug peddling. The Civil Lines division is second, followed by the Saddar and Model Town divisions.

In Qila Gujjar Singh and Gowalmandi areas, some women, too, sell heroin and hashish in small packets, allegedly with the connivance of the local police. In some cases, children help their mothers. Some medical stores, too, allegedly sell injections to addicts.

Educational institutions in the provincial metropolis are always a tempting target for drug dealers. While there have been complaints of drug use at some well-known educational institutions, the authorities are not known to have launched a special campaign to address those.

The police avoid holding addicts in their custody for investigation because some of them cannot survive without drugs. “Sometimes, police officials have to provide drugs to addicts to sustain them,” a police spokesperson says.

Many addicts sit in parks and sidewalks across the city in an intoxicated state. Many, in the end, die in these places are buried as unidentified persons.

Shunned by their families, some of the drug addicts are seen begging on the streets. Some even resort to violent crime.

On April 15, an Ice addict killed six members of his family in Mohalla Joyianwala in Township. The drug affects the brain and the nervous system and is highly addictive.

In a similar incident in April 2021, a man gunned down four people, including three of his family members, in the Nawankot area, after his mother told him to stop using drugs.

Dr Munir Ahmed Malik, the Mayo Hospital medical superintendent, tells The News on Sunday, that “most people start using drugs for recreational purposes. Over time their need for the drug grows and they become physically and psychiatrically dependent on the drugs.” Asked about the symptoms of drug use, he says, “ drug addict can feel energetic and brave. Some of them derive great pleasure in consuming drugs.

“Different drugs have different impact on the addict’s mind and body.“ He says regular consumption of hard drugs results in the addicts becoming detached from reality. Under the influence of drugs, some of them can even commit most heinous crimes and feel no remorse.

A spokesman for Lahore police says, the police arrested 6,513 people under the anti-narcotics laws during the first nine months of 2022. They recovered 42 kilograms of heroin, 3,170 kilograms of hashish, 11 kilograms of Ice and 48,284 litres of liquor from them.

“Catching drug addicts is not difficult for the police. However, some of the addicts then resort to serious self-harm. When they are taken to hospitals for treatment, many of them manage to escape,” he says. He says some of the drug addicts attempt suicide in the lock-ups. To avoid being blamed for their deaths, police do not keep them in their custody for long. Occasionally, police officials have had to provide drugs to addicts to sustain them,” he says.

The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at  ahsanzia155@gmail.com