The easy availability of various kinds of drugs and their growing abuse over the past many years has so far failed to move the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to draft a new drug control policy in the province.

According to reports, a relatively new drug known as ‘crystal meth’ has overtaken many people, especially youth, in the province and tribal areas. The meth drug is said to be six times more fatal than heroin.

Peshawar is considered as the hub of this home-made drug while experts say meth (methamphetamine) is a highly addictive A-class drug smuggled from Afghanistan where it was introduced in early 2010 in border areas adjacent to Iran.

Doctors say that the fatal drug could cause severe damage to heart, brain, liver and kidney, and ultimately death within six months.

Young Gul Rahim, 25, with sunken eyes and pale skin told this scribe that he had started using crystal meth two months ago. He said that access to crystal meth and ecstasy tablets was easy in the city as the police either did not know about it or lacked the will curb the menace. “I could not sleep for seven hours when I used it for the first time, but still I felt I was floating up in the sky. I also lost the desire to eat anything. My blood pressure ran high. I lost body weight very soon and every time I crave for taking more,” Mr Rahim with rotten teeth and frail physic described.

Asmat Khan, a young student, said that new drugs were available in Hayatabad, Gulbahar, Hashtnagri and Nishtarabad. Dealers in Swat, Mardan, Charsadda and Nowshera were also active and young people are their main target, he said. Teenagers, he said, were being used to strike the deal on their behalf around the city. Young students from parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad and Lahore visit Karkhano market for buying crystal meth and other contraband, Mr Khan said.

He said: “At the beginning its use was a great pleasure, but now it is getting very painful to give it up. I know hundreds of young students taking crystal meth, which is also referred to as ice, sheesha and kitchen drug because it requires no big space than a kitchen. Dealers sell these drugs in a small quantity. Price of locally-made one gram of meth may run between Rs15,000 and Rs25,000,” he stated. Most youngsters, he said, used the fatal drug for enhancing sexual power and hyper-activeness to drive away their tension.

According to doctors, no proper facility is available in the city’s big three hospitals where drugs addicts could be treated and rehabilitated. “No government or private organisation is in sight to run an awareness campaign against this drug which is many times toxic, dangerous and fatal than heroin. Recently, a resident of Charsadda was arrested at the Peshawar’s Bacha Khan airport carrying two kgs of ice to Jeddah,” Dr Zaheer, a drugs specialist in Peshawar, told this reporter. He said that no exact data was available with the authorities concerned. He said that crystal meth was also available at the main medicine stores in Peshawar’s Namakmandi bazaar as most of the drug controllers could not recognise it because it was found in salt or sugar like crystals/powder.

Recent reports suggest that it is made like heroin in Landi Kotal and Jamrud subdivisions of Khyber Agency close to Karkhano market. People of all age groups, especially young college and university students, are exposed to using crystal meth, ecstasy tablets and lysergic acid diethylamide.

An official of Anti-Narcotics Force told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the menace of use of crystal meth and a few other fatal drugs was fast spreading in KP and Fata as there no legal cover existed in the province to contain it. The official said: “Last year our [Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control] department had given a presentation on the new drug control policy to the KP government, while Rs400 million for the year 2014-15 were allocated to set up a new force against abuse of drugs, but unfortunately the amount lapsed.”

He said that after 18th amendment, the powers of ANF were devolved to provinces and KP was supposed to draft a new drug control policy and the KP narcotics control department was to take the responsibility.

“Meth is a synthetic drug found in white crystal form. People generally use it by smoking, inhaling and injecting it with a needle. It is one of the strongest stimulants creating hyperactivity and ecstasy. It lowers appetite and the rush-feeling of being hyperactive remains from six to eight hours, but it may also extend to 20 hours,” explained Dr Alam, a local expert working on drug abuse.

He said that several toxic chemicals were used in the preparation of meth crystal, including acetone, lithium, toluene, hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, etc. He said that ephedrine was the main ingredient in this drug.

“Presently, there is no provision in the existing law to contain drugs like crystal meth. The KP government doesn’t seem to be serious about the issue,” he said.

A reliable source in the KP Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department told Dawn: “A comprehensive drug control policy draft is lying with the provincial law department. A private firm was tasked with the job to devise an effective strategy for drug control in the province and design a body for the purpose. Drastic changes have been made in the ‘Control for Narcotics Substance Act, 1979’.”

The source said that Rs460 million had been allocated again for the establishment of Anti-Narcotics Force at the provincial level in fiscal year 2015-16. He claimed that the new law would be effective enough to contain all kinds of contraband.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2016