Shehryar Afridi’s charas, medicines comment leads to quite a buzz

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Narcotics Control Shehryar Afridi generated a buzz on social media Sunday when he said the government was planning to open a factory in Tirah in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that would make medicines from charas and hashish.

The video making rounds on social media features Afridi speaking at a rally where he says the government had started working on the Tirah factory plan to turns hashish into medicine. "PM Imran wishes for a factory to be opened in Tirah that turns chars into medicines," he says, according to Geo News.

"Every year, hashish and opium are burned in large quantities. Other countries make use of these (opium and hashish) to make medicines," he said, adding that work on the factory had started and that it would be instrumental in "changing people's lives".

Afridi took to Twitter to clarify that the factory would turn "seized drugs" into medicines. "This video is viral on social media with misleading comments by opponents," he tweeted. "I was telling my constituents that govt plans to develop factory in tribal areas to develop organic medicines through seized drugs."

Experts said while talking to Geo News that the idea presented by Shehryar Afridi is not feasible at all. They said only India is allowed such manufacturing of medicines, and that too on a very limited scale.