Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat has admitted that the government was not able to meet targets of five-year anti drug trafficking programme launched in 1998 at the cost of Rs 2.2 billion.
Addressing a seminar here on Saturday, he said that the number of drug addicts in the country had touched the alarming figure of six million during the last two decades.
He said government would continue the programme for another three years but that too would cost Rs 2.2 billion. The amount had been allocated in 2004-05 budget, he added.
The seminar "Drugs: Treatment Works" was organised by United Nations Information Center, Islamabad in connection with the international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking.
"But now," the minister expressed hope, "we will meet targets with the financial as well as the technical assistance of foreign and local funding agencies."
For the treatment of drug addicts, the minister said, government would establish 16 rehabilitation centers across the country with the collaboration of non-government organisations (NGOs).
Besides, Faisal informed the audience, two model rehabilitation centers would also be set up at Islamabad and Quetta at an estimated cost of Rs 22 million.
Faisal informed the audience that the total number of addicts in the country was touching alarming figure of 6 million out of whom 0.5 million were regular heroin users.
As many as 60,000 addicts used injections for taking drugs which subsequently resulted in severe diseases like AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, he added.
The minister said easy availability of drugs in the country was one of the basic reasons for the mounting number of addicts over the last two decades.
To control the situation, Faisal said, government would take every possible step to control illicit trafficking of drugs and to rehabilitate the addicts.