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

DRUG ABUSE IN PAKISTAN
Table 7.
Perceptions of long-term trends <strong>in</strong> drug <strong>abuse</strong> (last 5 years):
overall rat<strong>in</strong>gs
<strong>Drug</strong> type All Urban Rural Punjab S<strong>in</strong>dh Balochistan NWFP
Hashish and charas 9.4 9.0 10.1 8.0 7.3 14.8 11.4
Hero<strong>in</strong> 5.3 4.9 6.1 0.0 10.2 18.3 1.7
Opium 0.3 (–0.3) 1.3 0.0 (–1.1) 9.2 (–1.3)
Other opiates 4.8 5.6 2.2 8.6 1.8 1.1 1.1
Cough syrups
(for <strong>in</strong>toxication) 5.1 4.6 6.7 10.2 (–3.0) 5.0 1.4
Psychotropics 10.0 10.0 10.2 10.9 10.4 7.9 9.2
<strong>Drug</strong> <strong>in</strong>jection 8.4 9.0 6.7 8.8 9.7 12.2 1.4
Solvents (glue, etc) 6.7 6.8 6.7 8.0 5.0 5.3 3.3
Alcohol 7.3 7.8 6.4 8.2 9.7 8.8 5.4
Note: Positive values <strong>in</strong>dicate reports of overall <strong>in</strong>creases <strong>in</strong> <strong>abuse</strong> levels and negative values decreases <strong>in</strong> <strong>abuse</strong>.
Figure II.
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18
16
14
12
10
8
6
Cumulative long term trend
<strong>in</strong>dex
Balochistan. This analysis would fit with the tentative
suggestion that hero<strong>in</strong> use is still diffus<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>
<strong>Pakistan</strong> to new areas, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g more rural areas,
whilst at the same time stabiliz<strong>in</strong>g, or even possibly
slightly decl<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g, <strong>in</strong> some of the urban centres
where use has been longest established. This picture
rema<strong>in</strong>s prelim<strong>in</strong>ary and requires further <strong>in</strong>vestigation
before any firm conclusion should be drawn.
However, the “last-year” overall trend measure <strong>in</strong>dicates
a small decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> hero<strong>in</strong> use <strong>in</strong> the prov<strong>in</strong>ce
of Punjab (–0.9) (see table 9).
4
2
0
Hashish
Hero<strong>in</strong>
Other opiates
This compares to rat<strong>in</strong>gs of 10 and 18 for S<strong>in</strong>dh and
Balochistan, respectively, and 1.7 <strong>in</strong> NWFP. This
po<strong>in</strong>t is illustrated <strong>in</strong> figure II. Overall, the data suggest
that <strong>in</strong> Punjab hero<strong>in</strong> prevalence may have
been stable or even <strong>in</strong> possible decl<strong>in</strong>e over the last
five years. Elsewhere, it would <strong>in</strong>dicate no great
change <strong>in</strong> NWFP, where reported hero<strong>in</strong> use is low
<strong>in</strong> any respect, and <strong>in</strong>dicate <strong>in</strong>creases <strong>in</strong> S<strong>in</strong>dh and
<strong>Drug</strong> <strong>in</strong>jection
Solvents
Punjab S<strong>in</strong>dh Balochistan NWFP
Note: high scores <strong>in</strong>dicate <strong>in</strong>creased reports that drug <strong>abuse</strong>
has <strong>in</strong>creased <strong>in</strong> the last five years.
Alcohol
If a mixed picture is found for hero<strong>in</strong> use this is not
the case for drug <strong>in</strong>jection where data give cause
for considerable concern. Increased <strong>in</strong>ject<strong>in</strong>g is
reported <strong>in</strong> all prov<strong>in</strong>ces although the <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong>
NWFP is marg<strong>in</strong>al. However S<strong>in</strong>dh, Balochistan, and
Punjab all report strong upward trends. Inject<strong>in</strong>g is
reported to be <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g more strongly <strong>in</strong> urban
rather than rural locales, but for both the trend is
upwards.
Key <strong>in</strong>formants’ perception of long term trends <strong>in</strong>
hashish and charas <strong>abuse</strong> appear uniformly up with
some the highest overall rat<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> Balochistan and
NWFP. Opium <strong>abuse</strong> on the other hand was reported
to be stable or <strong>in</strong> decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> all prov<strong>in</strong>ces with
the exception of Balochistan. Trends <strong>in</strong> alcohol use
were reported to be up, as was the <strong>abuse</strong> of solvents
(glue, etc), with the locales <strong>in</strong> the prov<strong>in</strong>ce of Punjab
report<strong>in</strong>g the greatest overall <strong>in</strong>crease.
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