Seminar on “The International Day against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking”
Seminar on “The International Day against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking”
Walk, Poster Competition, Presentation, Discussion, Q&A, Way Forward
“Addressing drug challenges in health and humanitarian crises”
International Day against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking was observed on 26th June 2022 at Hotel Star Inn, Opp. Wapda office, Multan, Pakistan. This one-day seminar was organized by the EQUIP Research & Development Consultants in collaboration with the Ministry of Narcotics Control, Government of Pakistan, having the main objective of raising awareness among youth on smoking & its causes, alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, hypnotics/sedative dependence, cannabis dependence, hallucinogen dependence, cocaine abuse and their harmful effects on the society overall. The main contents of the seminar included a walk, poster competition, presentations, discussion, Q&A, way forward, etc.
EQUIP Research & Development Consultants in Collaboration with Ministry of Narcotics Control, Govt. of Pakistan has started a national campaign to raise awareness about the major challenges like potential health, social and legal consequences of illicit drug use among the entire society, but especially focusing to our youth.
EQUIP R&D Consultants is also working with the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP), Drug-Free-World, Australian & New Zealand mental health association, and International AIDS Society (IAS), etc. in so many programs regarding Substance Abuse prevention and the goal of these campaign/programs is to mobilize, support and inspire people to act against drug use.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the thirty-third largest country in terms of area and the fifth-most populous country with a population of over 220 million. The country has a huge reservoir of young people, with 64% of the population below the age of 29 and 30% between 15 and 29 years.
According to the 2012-2013 national survey by UNODC on "Drug Use in Pakistan", 4.25 million people are considered dependent on substances and require structured treatment for their drug use disorder. Cannabis is the most commonly used drug, with around 4 million users nationwide. Around 860,000 people used heroin regularly, approximately 19,000 people reported they had used methamphetamine and nearly 1.6 million people reported misuse of prescription opioids (painkillers) for non-medical use.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Pakistan has 6.7 million drug users. Almost 2 million of these are addicts, amongst the highest number for any country in the world. According to the 2020 research article published in Elsevier, the first step toward drug addiction starts with smoking.
The annual number of people who died due to drug use is estimated at 187,100. Anti Narcotics Force Pakistan is constitutionally mandated by the Government of Pakistan to counter-narcotics covering the entire spectrum / all facets.
In Pakistan, the total number of drug addicts as per a UN report is 7.6 million, where 78% are male while the rest 22% are female. The number of these addicts is increasing at the rate of 40,000 per year making Pakistan one of the most drug-affected countries in the world.
About 7.6 million of Pakistanis are involved in taking Drugs, amongst which 4 million use Cannabis while 2.7 million use Opioids. There are four main categories of drugs namely: Cannabis, Opioids, Cocaine, and Synthetic Drugs.
The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, or World Drug Day, is marked on 26 June every year by the UN general assemblies in 1987, this observance manifests to further escalate the UN’s resolve in creating a drug-free society by reducing both demands as well as supply of illicit drugs and increasing awareness among general masses regarding drugs abuse.
The seminar started with the Recitation, Welcome Note & Introduction of resource persons by M. Asim Ali, Akash Jamil, and Mahnoor Khan. After that, a session of discussion and cross-talk was conducted regarding Drug abuse prevention by the EQUIP team. Moreover, one of the very important activities of the seminar -Walk against drug abuse was held in which all the participants of the seminar and other people from the general public were involved very actively.
Our first guest speaker was Dr. M. Umair Waqas (DVM, Masters in Public Health), presently teaching at MNS, University, Multan as a lecturer, shared a very informative presentation regarding drug abuse, its risk factors, epidemiology, and consequences.
Our second speaker & head of the EQUIP R&D Consultants Mr. Kashif Kamran who did his MPhil in Business Administration, MPhil in Public health, certifications in UTC, UPC and conducted so many awareness sessions, workshops regarding drug abuse prevention & HIV/AIDS, defined Correlation between People with Injecting Drugs & Spreading of HIV/AIDS in Pakistan and also told us about the collaboration with Ministry of Narcotics Control, Govt. of Pakistan & the mission to work jointly in the war against drug abuse prevention throughout Pakistan. He also explained about the ISSUP, Colombo plan, Training of UTC, UPC, certification & career in this field for youth.
Dr. Ata-ur-Rehman Khan (MCPS, MPH, MBBS) is serving in the health secretariat of South Punjab as the head of the Control & Command unit, focal person of Dengue prevention/Control, and coordinator of communicable disease control briefed about drug abuse prevention, consequences & its hazardous effects on the entire family.
Mrs. Amber K Khan (BS (Hons), MS Gender & Women Studies, MPH/MPhil Public Health) also shared Drug abuse prevention, its causes & effects, programs & campaigns that will be organized by EQUIP R&D Consultants in the coming days. She also introduced EQUIP's vision & mission and the profile of all the Team members of EQUIP Research & Development Consultants.
After the presentations, discussion & Q&A sessions, all the worthy guests went to see all the Posters that have been made by the students from different schools & colleges, on the theme of Drug Abuse Prevention. After some time our respectable guest has finalized the result for 1st, 2nd & 3rd positions for the poster Competition.
Furthermore, a very informative documentary on Drug abuse, formed by the EQUIP team with their untiring effects, was shown to the participants. All the participants admired the effort by EQUIP team for making such an informative documentary regarding drug abuse, so many questions were raised after watching the documentary & it was a really good & informative session for all the participants.
In the end, certificates & souvenirs were distributed among all the participants, shields were presented to the winner & runner-ups of the poster competition and a token of love & appreciation shields were also presented to all of our worthy guest speakers.
“Better Knowledge for better Care”.
Note:
Participants were extremely happy, motivated, and energized throughout the seminar. They are willing to be a member of ISSUP and to attend further training regarding drug abuse prevention.
