THE recent arrests of over a dozen alleged dealers of crystal meth in Karachi should serve as a sobering eye-opener. At a news conference on Wednesday, the police disclosed that several suspects were still at large, including Karachi’s biggest dealer of ‘ice’ (as the drug is colloquially known). Worse still is the claim that the primary clientele of this criminal gang and their life-destroying wares were college and university students. Indeed, since Pakistan’s first reported discovery of a meth production lab in an upscale Karachi neighbourhood in late 2012, accounts of drug busts, overdoses and crimes all linked to crystal meth have steadily streamed in from across the length and breadth of the country, indicating the growing prevalence of ice on our streets. Compounding the inflow of contraband past our borders through a nexus of drug smugglers and complicit officials is the relative ease with which the drug can be locally produced owing, in large part, to poor regulatory oversight of controlled substances (recall the ephedrine scandal). Yet routine drug raids by the authorities are announced almost as a matter of course, and reported in the same blasé fashion in the press unless there’s some novel angle to it. Clearly, unless there is a concerted, inter-agency effort overseen by the Anti-Narcotics Force, it will be business as usual for the kingpins of this illicit trade.

The issue of rising meth usage, however, should not be viewed only through the lens of law enforcement. The fact that so many recreational drug users turn out to be barely older than children points to a deeper malaise. In a society that values conformity over individuality, groupthink over critical reasoning, it is little wonder that the youth are seduced into experimenting with drugs, be it to cope, escape or ‘fit in’. While authority figures would benefit from some introspection, educational institutions and parents must also focus on imparting the necessary life skills to youth, while facilitating recreational activities and providing rehabilitative support to combat addiction.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2019