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

DRUG ABUSE IN PAKISTAN
This suggests that whilst considerable difficulties
may exist <strong>in</strong> respect to the provision of care for this
group, should appropriate services be available
many would seek to access them.
<strong>Drug</strong> <strong>abuse</strong> history
All respondents were asked about their history of
us<strong>in</strong>g different types of illicit drugs and alcohol.
These data can be found <strong>in</strong> table 16. Aga<strong>in</strong> the differences
observed between the three samples were
not great and drug consumption repertoires
appeared remarkably constant across the three
groups.
In terms of lifetime prevalence, hero<strong>in</strong> was the drug
most commonly used by respondents, followed by
hashish/charas, alcohol, opium, tranquillizers and
synthetic opiates. The use of cough syrups (for the
purposes of <strong>in</strong>toxication) <strong>in</strong>halants, and morph<strong>in</strong>e,
was relatively low (9%, 5% and 3% respectively) and
no significant use of barbiturate or amphetam<strong>in</strong>e
use was detected.
Current drug use
When recent drug use was considered the consumption
patterns closely reflected patterns of lifetime
use. The reader should note that this <strong>in</strong>formation
applies to the month before enter<strong>in</strong>g prison or
treatment for the samples contacted <strong>in</strong> those
sett<strong>in</strong>gs. Aga<strong>in</strong> hero<strong>in</strong> was most commonly used,
with virtually all respondents report<strong>in</strong>g us<strong>in</strong>g the
drug <strong>in</strong> the last 30 days (96%). This was followed by
hashish/charas and then alcohol. Other significant
current drug use <strong>in</strong>cluded opium and tranquillizers,
which were currently be<strong>in</strong>g used by a quarter of all
respondents.
The data on use of drugs reveal a picture, which is
fairly commonly found <strong>in</strong>ternationally, of multiple
drug consumption amongst hard-core drug <strong>abuse</strong>rs.
Whilst the ma<strong>in</strong> focus of this study was on the use
of hero<strong>in</strong>, and this was the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal sample <strong>in</strong>clusion
criterion, it can be observed that many hero<strong>in</strong>
<strong>abuse</strong>rs are also regularly consum<strong>in</strong>g a range of other
psychoactive substances. This fact can complicate
the development of effective <strong>in</strong>terventions from both
the supply and demand reduction perspective.
Although many respondents were consum<strong>in</strong>g multiple
drugs, the patterns of frequency of consumption
varied for specific substances. A simple measure of
specific drug consumption among <strong>in</strong>dividuals who
had used the drug <strong>in</strong> the last month is the mean
number of days on which they were consum<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>
the 30 days prior to <strong>in</strong>terview (note: the terms “last
month/30 days” refer to the month before enter<strong>in</strong>g
prison or treatment for the sample groups contacted
<strong>in</strong> those sett<strong>in</strong>gs). Dependent drug use is typically
characterized by daily or near daily consumption
patterns.
Table 16.
History of drug use (all respondents)
Used <strong>in</strong> past
Ever used 12 months Mean number of days
<strong>Drug</strong> (percentage) Age first used (percentage) used <strong>in</strong> last 30 days
Hashish/charas 86 18 77 19
Hero<strong>in</strong> 97 22 96 27
Opium 38 23 25 18
Synthetic opiates 14 27 11 20
Morph<strong>in</strong>e 3 26 2 23
Cough syrups 9 22 3 14
Barbiturates 1 26 1 11
Tranquillizers 30 24 25 15
Amphetam<strong>in</strong>es 1 24 >1 17
Alcohol 52 19 32 8.5
Inhalants 5 23 3 20
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