IRIN
PAKISTAN: Earthquake victims and drug dependency
19 December 2005


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United 
Nations]

ISLAMABAD, 19 December (IRIN) - The United Nations Office on Drugs and 
Crimes (UNODC), together with the Pakistani Ministry of Health (MoH), 
has launched a series of awareness raising workshops as part of its 
efforts to prevent drug dependency and addiction among victims of the 8 
October earthquake.

"UNODC has observed in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world that victims 
of natural and manmade disasters are at high risk of developing drug 
dependence and addiction - maybe as a result of prescribed medications 
to the injured for the relief of extreme pain or otherwise due to 
discomfort and boredom amongst displaced populations after a disaster," 
Vincent McClean, Country Representative for UNODC, said in the Pakistani 
capital, Islamabad, on Monday.

More than 80,000 people were killed and 100,000 injured after the 
powerful quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale ripped through parts 
of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir. More than 3.5 million were rendered 
homeless by the quake.

"So far, we have not seen many cases of drug abuse but we are quite 
alert to this problem and would like to create awareness among the 
victims," said Dr Rizwan Taj, head of psychiatry at the Pakistan 
Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), and facilitator of the workshop.

"A particular concern to us is the excessive use of tranquillisers, 
opiate-based painkillers and cannabis. On the other hand, drug abusers 
in a traumatised population are many times more difficult to treat than 
in the general population," Taj maintained.

The South Asian nation has an estimated 4 million drug abusers, of whom 
some 500,000 are chronic heroin and injecting drug users, according to a 
national assessment conducted in 2000.

This was the first of a series of workshops planned by UNODC in coming 
weeks to highlight the risk of drug dependency and addiction among 
various groups - earthquake victims, relief workers, medical 
professionals and even journalists.


IRIN photos and articles of the Asia earthquake impact are available to 
media and members of the humanitarian community free-of-charge. Articles 
can be accessed at www.IRINnews.org. Full-sized images suitable for 
publications can be downloaded directly from the public photo 
library:www.irinnews.org/photogallery/iringallery .  To search for 
appropriate photos select 'Pakistan' under the Country search dropdown 
box.

New photos and articles are added daily.


IRIN-Asia
Tel: +90 312 454 1177
Fax: +90 312 495 4166
Email: IrinAsia@IRINnews.org


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                   guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
South Asia Earthquake                   www.cidi.org/incident/sasia-05j