The Secretary, Ministry of Narcotics Control chaired a
meeting of the Provincial Secretaries Health Services and Secretaries, Excise,
Taxation and Narcotics Control regarding drug use and spreading of HIV/AIDS and
Hepatitis B & C by the Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) at the Ministry of
Narcotics Control. Representatives from
all the provinces including AJ&K, FATA Secretariat and Anti-Narcotics Force
attended the meeting.
The meeting
was the first of its kind after the 18th Amendment. The purpose of the meeting was to develop a
more coordinated approach towards the control of drug usage, spreading of
HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis through injectable drug use and further the
rehabilitation of the drug addicts. The
meeting was informed that the National Anti-Narcotics Policy was formulated in
2010 and it has to be revised after every 05 years. The Secretary, Ministry of
Narcotics Control also apprised about the revision of the Anti-Narcotics
Policy, which is in process. He informed
the meeting that this initiative was to have input from the Provinces regarding
formulation of the new National Anti-Narcotics Policy so that the provinces may
formulate their own policies on the same pattern. He also referred to National Narcotics
Control Committee (NNCC) meeting wherein a number of important decisions were
taken. One of the decisions related to
constitution of Provincial Narcotics Control Committee (PNCC), which needs to
be activated and also the actions should be shared with the Ministry of
Narcotics Control. All the
representatives briefed the meeting about the initiatives taken by their
respective provinces regarding narcotics control, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B
& C treatment prevention. It was
decided in the meeting that follow up meetings on the matter would be regularly
held in future.
