Drug abuse among women in Pakistan

Drug abuse among women in Pakistan

Most of the people in Pakistan normally think only men are involved in the drug abuse but according to the latest reports substance abuse has also been found pretty common among the women in urban Pakistan.

The Ministry of Narcotics Control last Tuesday shared a research study by the name of ‘Substance Abuse amongst Women in Pakistan: Relationship Domestic Violence’, at an advocacy workshop and according to the findings drug abuse among women has been found in all segments in Urban Pakistan. However, people still don’t get to know about it because of the social values and cultural stigmas.

The socking findings, which were shared by the lead consultant for the study Sarah Javed, revealed that majority of females who use drugs are uneducated but there are also many who have college or university level education.

During the research almost 400 females who take drugs were interviewed in five major cities of Pakistan, Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar.

As per the findings 15 percent of the females who take drugs have Masters level education whereas 32 percent of them attended colleges. The report also showed that most of the women among these are less than 40 years of age.

Surprisingly over half of the women among these were found married and the other ones were single or unmarried. Remaining 21 percent were divorced, widowed or separated.

Among all who were interviewed, 40 percent were housewives and interestingly they all were being supported by their husbands. Most of the other females who were interviewed insisted they take drugs in search for pleasure and others said they started taking them after seeing their brothers.

Majority of the females were found using ‘chars’ whereas the others were using ‘heroine’ and ‘Opium’. The worst part is that among these 400 women only 87 had gone for treatment or rehabilitation.

It is indeed a shocking report because the ratio found among the women is horrifying. The Ministry of Narcotics Control (MNC) has promised to launch a comprehensive plan of action for their rehabilitation.

Let’s hope MNC takes a step as soon as possible otherwise with this much ratio it is only a matter of time before the nation to gets into some real trouble.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=8992

Posted by Imran Shaukat Khan on Jan 12 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.