Drug rehab centres to be set up in big cities

LAHORE : The Punjab government has decided to establish model centres in major cities for the rehabilitation of drug addicts and issued instructions to all the divisional commissioners in this regard.

The Chief Secretary Punjab issued the instruction at a meeting which was attended by the Additional Chief Secretary (Home), administrative secretaries of relevant departments including education, health, excise, social welfare, the Director ANF and officials concerned. All the Divisional Commissioners participated via video link. The Chief Secretary directed that a management model be developed to run these centers and all the relevant departments including Social Welfare, Education and Health should work together for this purpose. The meeting also reviewed measures to prevent drug use in educational institutions.

The Chief Secretary ordered the officers to continue the work of health profiling of students in educational institutions and devise an action plan with the help of the obtained data. The Chief Secretary said that there is a need to increase awareness about the harms of drugs, adding that Imams of mosques and elders of the area can play an important role on this count. He also issued instructions to the Excise Department to enhance coordination with the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) for crackdown on drug mafia.