PESHAWAR
Third phase of the Drug Free Peshawar campaign of taking the remaining few hundred drug addicts from the roads of the city and shifting them to rehabilitation centres would begin from February.
The decision was taken during a meeting held here with Commissioner Peshawar Division, Riaz Khan Mehsud in the chair on Thursday. Besides, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Peshawar, Shafiullah Khan, officers of the Social Welfare, and Excise Department, the administrative officers of other concerned organizations also attended.
They decided that after complete cleansing roads of drug addicts, those addicts which are inside their houses would also be shifted to rehabilitation centres.
The meeting was told about historic success achieved during the first two phases of the campaign during which 2500 rehabilitated drug addicts have rejoined their families. Only 15 rehabilitated drug addicts had restarted addiction and once again shifted to rehabilitation centres.
The participants of the meeting were of the view that those who returned to drug addiction was due to the lack of interest by their families and hinted at taking action against such families to recover expenses incurred on the treatment of their family members.
The meeting also finalized preparations for the third phase of the campaign and conducting surveys regarding drug addicts during night time. The commissioner has also directed furnishing of daily reports in this regard.
