Drug abuse in Pakistan - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

MAPPING THE NATIONAL CONTOURS OF DRUG ABUSE
Table 4.
Respondents’ perceptions of the scale of drug use <strong>in</strong> the locales:
overall rat<strong>in</strong>gs
<strong>Drug</strong> type All Urban Rural Punjab S<strong>in</strong>dh Balochistan NWFP
Hashish and charas 16 17 16 16 15 19 17
Hero<strong>in</strong> 13 15 11 16 15 18 9
Opium 5 5 6 6 4 9 5
Other opiates 3 4 1 7 2 1 1
Cough syrups
(for <strong>in</strong>toxication) 3 3 3 8 1 1 2
Psychotropics 7 8 5 10 8 3 5
<strong>Drug</strong> <strong>in</strong>jection 5 6 4 9 5 7 1
Solvents (glue, etc) 2 2 2 6 1 1 0
Alcohol 12 13 11 16 12 13 8
Note: Higher values <strong>in</strong>dicate that use is reported to be more common.
Figure I.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Hashish
Hero<strong>in</strong>
Percentage of key <strong>in</strong>formants
that reported drug <strong>abuse</strong> as
common <strong>in</strong> their locale
Opium
Other opiates
Cough syrups
compared to 69% of those <strong>in</strong> rural locales. Similarly,
prov<strong>in</strong>cial levels of reported use are also high,
although some differences are observable. Use is
reported to be most common <strong>in</strong> Balochistan, where
90% of respondents report hashish or charas as
“commonly used” closely followed by NWFP, where
the figure is 75% of responses. Lowest use is reported
<strong>in</strong> S<strong>in</strong>dh (overall rat<strong>in</strong>g of 15), but here still nearly
two-thirds of key <strong>in</strong>formants report the drug type is
“commonly used”.
Psycotropics
<strong>Drug</strong>
<strong>in</strong>jection
Solvents
Alcohol
When hero<strong>in</strong> is considered, urban and rural differences
are more apparent, as <strong>in</strong>dicated by overall rat<strong>in</strong>g
scores of 15, and 11, respectively. Hero<strong>in</strong> <strong>abuse</strong>
is thus reported as a more urban phenomenon with
54% of those <strong>in</strong> urban locales report<strong>in</strong>g common use
as opposed to 32% of those <strong>in</strong> rural areas. Dist<strong>in</strong>ct
prov<strong>in</strong>cial differences are also observable. Hero<strong>in</strong>
use is reported to be most common <strong>in</strong> Balochistan,
where 77% of respondents report use as “common”.
However, sample sizes are disproportionately lower
from this prov<strong>in</strong>ce reflect<strong>in</strong>g its lower population
total (only 30 key <strong>in</strong>formants <strong>in</strong>terviews conducted),
so some caution is necessary <strong>in</strong> mak<strong>in</strong>g comparisons
between Balochistan and other prov<strong>in</strong>ces. Rates are
also high <strong>in</strong> Punjab where 58% of key <strong>in</strong>formants
report “common use” and this is supported by a
correspond<strong>in</strong>gly high overall rat<strong>in</strong>g figure of 16. It is
important to look at this overall rat<strong>in</strong>g figure, <strong>in</strong>
addition to <strong>in</strong>dividual scores, as this measure takes
<strong>in</strong>to account <strong>in</strong>formation from all responses to the
question (i.e. “commonly used,” “some use”, “rarely
used” and “don’t know”). NWFP has the lowest rat<strong>in</strong>g
for reported hero<strong>in</strong> use with only 12% of key
<strong>in</strong>formants report<strong>in</strong>g use was common <strong>in</strong> their
locale.
<strong>Drug</strong> <strong>in</strong>jection is the route of adm<strong>in</strong>istration most
associated with health and other problems. As such,
even the existence of a relatively small <strong>in</strong>ject<strong>in</strong>g
population can have considerable impact on the
overall costs (health, social and crim<strong>in</strong>al justice)
15