Islamabad: Four rupees are spent on each drug addict in the country, a Senate body was informed on Monday.
In a meeting held on Monday with Senator Rehman Malik in chair, Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior and Anti-Narcotics was apprised that approximately 8.9 million people in Pakistan become addicted to drugs every year, while 35 million people are directly affected.
“Pakistan has allocated Rs27 million annually for these addicts,” said Director General Anti Narcotics Force, Major General Khawar Hanif.
Furthering the discussion, Brig Zahid Abdullah said, “There is an estimated $US435billion drug economy in the world whereas a poppy crop of 0.5 million acres was cultivated last year.”
Asked whether the money acquired from drugs is fuelling terrorism, Secretary Anti-narcotics Ghalib Bandesha said, “There is no direct nexus between terrorism and drug money in Pakistan. That is what our investigation revealed.”
