Ice drug remains a serious threat to society

PESHAWAR: Ice (methamphetamine) along with heroin and various other kinds of drugs is posing a serious threat to society since an increase in the use of synthetic drugs in the last one decade.

The number of addicts and their involvement in violent crimes has witnessed an increase every year since 2018.There were actions against the drug mafias involved but the number of people consuming drugs is still on the rise, not only in KP but all the major cities.

While going through the investigation of several cases, it was found that the ice users were also behind snatching, robberies, theft and violence during crimes.Last year, the KP government termed the eradication of drugs as one of the major challenges faced by the province and announced operations against the mafias as well as rehabilitation of the addicts.

A meeting chaired by the chief minister set up a special task force against narcotics, especially ice. It directed police and all the relevant departments to continuously conduct operations against the mafias involved in the manufacturing, smuggling and sale of drugs.

Along with aggressive operations after proper intelligence gathering against the mafias, introducing strict laws to award due punishments to the ice dealers from the courts are equally important to put culprits behind bars Also, the focus should be the gangs and not the addicts who are held and presented as dealers.

Police officials said that in 2024 a total of 28,097 kg of drugs, including 22,575 kg of hashish, as well as ice, heroin and opium, were recovered by the police in operations against drugs in KP. They said hundreds of dealers as well as others involved in the business were held.

“Only in Peshawar, 2648 kilograms of hashish, 302 kgs heroin and 92 KGs of ice were recovered during the last one year. Besides, 355 kgs ice, 531 kg heroin and 5559 hashish were recovered during 2024 from Khyber district,” an official said.

A police official said many of them were held for the second and third time for committing the crime repeatedly soon after they were released from jails within a few months.The official said police had written to the government on several occasions in the past that strict laws needed to be introduced so those arrested by the police get due punishments.

The officials suggested developing a system for keeping a check on the transportation of raw material being used in the manufacturing of ice as this synthetic drug could be manufactured anywhere from some raw material used in the manufacturing of medicines.

On the other hand, police, Excise, Narcotics Control and other forces need to conduct effective operations against the mafias instead of merely an eye-wash.Mostly these forces focus on showing an increased number of arrests to the media and government and even include those addicts held with few grams of substance, presenting them as dealers.

From the situation in the last many years, one presumes there were several gangs and individuals in the urban, suburban and rural areas of the country involved in manufacturing, smuggling and sale of ice and other drugs.

The target of some of the gangs are the youth and they are selling drugs in different shapes in the vicinity of the educational institutions.The easy availability of this synthetic drug that can be manufactured anywhere has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the number of addicts, including youth and even teenagers in the last few years.

Many addicts of ice and heroin including women and children can be seen on footpaths and roadside just opposite Karkhano, Hayatabad, Faqirabad, GT Road, Kohat Road-Ring Road Chowk, Jaba Sohail, Dir Colony, Dilzak Road, Charsadda Road and many other areas of Peshawar.

Operations in the past did not prove fruitful because the officials in the field focused more on showing an increased number of arrests to the bosses and added false cases to the list instead of breaking the real network through better intelligence gathering and effective operations.

Most of the district police officers and the station house officers were only interested in showing better statistics to the government and media instead of breaking the network.

For effective operations, intelligence collection is more important about the factories and dealers of ice and heroin in urban, suburban and rural areas before planning proper action against the mafias and facilitators involved in the supply and sale of drugs.Special focus should be on actions against those involved in the supply of ice, heroin and hashish to the youth in educational institutions and hostels.