Islamabad:About eight million people are abusing drugs of different kinds in the country, among them 0.8 million are heroin addicts who are highly vulnerable to dangerous diseases, said Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Deputy Director General Altaf Qamar here on Wednesday.

He revealed these figures at a seminar on ‘Role of Youth and Society in Drug Abuse Prevention’ organised under the auspices of Sir Syed Memorial Society. The seminar was a part of an awareness campaign by the ANF and attended by students of different educational institutions.

A student, Usama Khilji, highlighted the role of peer pressure in drug abuse and said that youth should avoid the company of friends who are taking the drugs of some kind. “Youth should not only avoid the company of drug users, but should also inform the parents of drug users about their habit,” he added.

He said that some parents are hopeful that their child would not get indulged in drugs throughout their teenage years and this leads them to ignoring the subject, as they hope that their child remains innocent to teen drug abuse. “This can be a terrible mistake. If teens are unaware of the effects of teen drug abuse, it’s likely that they will be more likely to give in to the peer pressure of using drugs,” he said.

Altaf Qamar said that the increase in the number of drug addicts was alarming so they started a campaign to create awareness among community members, especially young people.

“We have two functions — one to stop supply and other to reduce demand — and these seminars are a part of efforts to reduce increasing demand of drugs,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, ANF Joint Executive Director Colonel Riaz highlighted the role of ANF in trafficking control and rehabilitation. He said that 95 per cent of the drugs all over the world are supplied from Afghanistan and Pakistan being the transit route was worst affected. “In Pakistan we have curbed the production of drugs and since 2001 there is not even a single factory of drugs left here,” he said.

He said that 50 per cent of the population in our country comprises youth and 66 per cent are under the age of 30 who are highly vulnerable to use of drugs.

“Most of the youth become drug addicts due to their peer pressure so it was the responsibility of parents to have check over the activities of their children in order to protect them from drugs,” he said. The news