Finally, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government seems to have woken up to the reality that widespread drug abuse in the society spawns various social malaises with beggary and street crimes topping the chart. Taking stock of the worsening situation, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan issued directives to take pragmatic steps for eradicating social evils emanating from drug addiction, which has long been a source of major concern for parents, both for the individual\u2019s health and for the wider society as a whole.
\nPresiding over a meeting to launch drug rehabilitation program the other day, the chief minister accorded approval to extend the mass rehabilitation program for drug addicts to all districts of the province and to move against the elements involved in the spread of drugs.
\nThe intervention by the chief executive of the province, which is intended to eradicate the use of narcotics, signifies the inaction of relevant departments who are mandated to combat drug abuse.
\nRecently, the Peshawar administration has chalked out a comprehensive program to uproot beggary from the city. The official machinery has been put into the top gear to move against professional beggars occupying traffic signals, roundabouts, overhead bridges, hospital entrances and footpaths in the bazaars, and to shift them to the Darul Kafala and shelter homes where they are set to learn skills to earn their livelihood with dignity. It is an open secret that drug abuse generates beggary, which in turn leads to street crimes and, off late, the trend of street crimes in various parts of the provincial metropolis is gaining momentum.
\nInitially, the government has decided to allocate a chunk of Rs 500 million in the next annual development program (ADP) for the mass rehabilitation project for drug addicts and to impart vocational skills to them to turn them into useful citizens of the country. The proposed project would be implemented in three phases, including profiling of drug addicts with accurate data, execution and rehabilitation.
\nThe evil of drug addiction could have been significantly stemmed if the quarters concerned had utilized the resources at hand to limit drug pedaling from specific spots, which is not some gigantic task and can be successfully carried in a systematic fashion in a very few months. The provincial law enforcement agencies have the ability to limit the spread of drugs with the help of the civil society and law abiding citizens.
\n While the short-term solution to longstanding issue of drug addiction lies in removing the sources of suppliers, the evil cannot be tackled in the long term without encouraging the society, especially parents, family members, friends to join hands with the government. In addition to rehabilitation program being imposed by the authorities, the community should be activated against the use, possession, sale, distribution, or manufacturing of all types of drugs. Drug laws are often harsh, but the penalties for carrying or trafficking drugs should be made more severe under the proposed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Vagrancy Act, which is likely to be submitted to the provincial cabinet for approval in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Finally, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government seems to have woken up to the reality that widespread drug abuse in the society spawns various social malaises with beggary and street crimes topping the chart. Taking stock of the worsening situation, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan issued directives to take pragmatic steps for eradicating social evils emanating from drug […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11023,1328,754],"class_list":{"0":"post-288714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial","7":"tag-beggary","8":"tag-crackdown","9":"tag-drugs"},"yoast_head":"\n