The Narcotics Control Ministry has demanded Rs 254.8 million from the government for treatment and rehabilitation of drug-addicts. A well-placed source told Business Recorderthat a committee formed by the Prime Minister has okayed establishment of drug rehabilitation centers in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. The five-member committee includes ministers of Health, IT, Social Welfare, Women Development, Religious Affairs and Interior.
They said that work has started on rehabilitation centers in Islamabad and Quetta, while recruitment process of the staff has almost been completed, adding the Narcotics Control Ministry is having bilateral and multilateral co-operation with foreign countries against narcotics-trafficking.
The Narcotics Control Ministry is also focusing on comprehensive legislation covering all aspects of narcotics and psychotropic substances in consultation with other ministries and divisions, they added.
Sources said that a committee (NIC) has been constituted to review, monitor and evaluate the narcotics interdiction operations of all the law-enforcement agencies and make necessary plans for effective control of drug-trafficking in the country.
A Policy Review Board (PRB) has been constituted for implementation of narcotics policy in the provinces, which is headed by the minister for Narcotics, they added.
They said that recently there has been some resurgence of poppy cultivation in areas of NWFP and Balochistan but this issue is being addressed vigorously.
Sources said that United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in collaboration with the Government of Pakistan, launched a three-year project entitled "Establishment of 16 Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers at a cost of $547,000 in various cities.