Rising number of drug addicts worries Pindiites

Rawalpindi: The residents have demanded of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of rising number of drug addicts due to easy availability of drugs in every nook and corner of the city.

Masood Rabbani, a resident of the Banni area, said the number of drug addicts has increased dramatically in the area and according to him every kind of drug is available and the addicts find no difficulty to access drug traffickers and buy their desired 'material'. An interaction with some drug addicts revealed that the traffickers usually take advantage of the current policy and use addicts for delivering small quantities to the customers, as it involves lesser risk of being nabbed.

The traffickers based in different areas are local people and drugs are being supplied to them by the people who bring these narcotics from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

Unfortunately, the areas where the number of drug addicts is fast increasing include Mohalla Chah Sultan, Glass Factory, Akalgarh, Dhoke Dalal, Bakarmandi, Bagh Sardaran, Dhoke Hassu, Phagwari, Khayaban-e-Sir Syed and Sadiqabad.

Aqeel Abbasi, a resident of Phagwari, said if anyone has money he can easily buy 'charas', 'heroin' and other drugs that shows the worsening situation in the city, adding "The Punjab government must take notice of the situation and launch crackdown to crub this menace from Rawalpindi."