Tens of thousands of addicts easily get cannabis across the country

PESHAWAR: After the law-enforcement agencies began focusing mostly on dealing with ice (methamphetamine) and heroin, they didn't realise that hashish has proved to be a more serious threat to the society, especially the youth, as a threshold drug.

There are tens of thousands of people, including a large number of students, who have got addicted to hashish and use it regularly. The drug, made from the risen of cannabis, is relatively cheap and is easily available in the urban, suburban and rural areas.

Many among the law-enforcers do not consider puffing hashish-filled cigarettes as a serious crime and avoid action against the users. Thousands of addicts of hashish go for ice, heroin and other drugs in the next stage when they want something more intense. Very few start smoking ice or heroin directly.

"There are thousands of people addicted to hashish in Peshawar alone. Hundreds of thousands of addicts are there in other districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and rest of the country. They include a number of young boys and girls, mostly students in their teens or early 20s," a source told The News.

The source added that the drug is called 'Malangi Nasha' by a large number of addicts who justify its use to have some fun or get rid of stress. The source said the number of women and even young girls addicted to hashish and other drugs, especially in bigger cities, has increased in the past years.

Apart from the police, the Excise and Taxation Department, Anti-Narcotics Force and other forces are working to check and control narcotics by carrying out operations almost daily across the country. The flow of drug from across the border in Afghanistan via the erstwhile Fata, however, could not be stopped.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime while referring to a 2013 national survey on "Drug Use in Pakistan", cannabis or hashish is the most commonly used drug with around 4 million users in the country.

As per the report, around 860,000 people took heroin regularly, approximately 19,000 people reported they had used ice and nearly 1.6 million people reported misuse of prescription opioids (painkillers) for non-medical use.

It added that Pakistan is geographically vulnerable to drug trafficking due to its border with Afghanistan, the world's largest producer of illicit opium. In 2016-17, the report added, Pakistan seized a total of 2,860 metric tons of different types of narcotics drugs.

"I or any of our friends never faced any issue in getting hashish. There is a specific place in almost every village and also in suburbs and cities where you can get the drug for five, 10 or more cigarettes. The law enforcers know well where the drug is being sold across the KP under the patronage of influential people," a resident of suburban Peshawar who has been consuming hashish for years told The News. He argued hash is not considered a taboo even in a major part of the society now.

One can smell hashish in the air anywhere, even while roaming the urban trade centres, hostels, educational institutions, posh townships, in buses and cars, in hujras, homes and offices. The reality is that a large number of people consume it daily without any fear or any idea that it is a crime.