'ICE' Addiction Grows At Alarming Level Among Youth

'ICE' Addiction Grows At Alarming Level Among Youth

Adil Ali   13 June

PESHAWAR: Rise in the use of ice or methamphetamine as party drug in Peshawar is alarming and more terrifying is the fact that families have no clue until the worst side effects start to show.

Recently few gaming zones in a posh locality of Peshawar were raided by the district administration and police and found school boys using banned Sheesha and Oxygen however, some locals suspected sale of ice too.

A youth, who is working at a restaurant using ice in the same locality, did not disclose where from he was buying the drug but shared his feelings after he used the drug.

“When I take a dose it keeps me alert and awake for hours. I don’t sleep. I don’t know what I am doing after that,” he said on condition of anonymity. Despite his low income, he was somehow managing to buy the drug.

Use of methamphetamine as party drug in Peshawar is alarmingly high

“Ice, a potent stimulant drug, also referred to as crystal or crystal meth since it comes as a powder or crystals is being used by men and women of different ages and backgrounds,” said Dr Mian Iftikhar Hussain, a known psychiatrist, who runs a detoxification and rehabilitation hospital in Peshawar.

His is one of the very few health facilities that treat such patients. Treatment is itself a long and painful process expanding over months and needing huge financial resources and Job’s patience from the family and doctors handling such addicts.

“The drug is also being used by the professional women dancers for it keeps them awake for long hours,” said Dr Hussain while keeping the identity of the patients he was treating secret for the obvious reasons.

In the 1980s and 90s, provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and adjoining tribal area was a hippie trail due to easy availability of fine quality hashish (charas), then later in 90s heroin addicts could be seen under the underpasses, green belts teaching a lesson to the passersby about terrifying consequences of the use of the illicit drug.

However, now the use of methamphetamines (crystal meth) is relatively new but gaining popularity fast among men, women and youth.

“It can keep you alert and active for hours that’s why dependency on the drug leads to paranoia, hallucinations and behavioural issues. Long-term use can lead to psychosis and violent behaviour,” said Dr Hussain. He mentioned a case wherein a successful businessman after excessive use of ice got so uncontrollably violent that he killed his wife.

“Usually parents or the family don’t notice any change at first in the drug user. It is the violent behaviour that attracts attention,” he said. He added that the entire family needed to care for such patients.

“They need to be under close watch for at least six months once they get out of rehab. They should not have a cellular phone and should not be allowed alone out of home,” said Dr Hussain, explaining what family needed to do even after the ice-addict rehabilitated at a health facility.

While young and grown men and women are at risk of ice, police blame the weak narcotic’s law for failure to curb the drug peddlers but the senior lawyers say the police are at fault as Control of Narcotic Substance Act, 1997 could control the drug smuggling and abuse.

Ice, which is available for Rs4,000 to Rs6,000 per gram, is expensive and addict develops dependency so with each increased use of the drug the condition of addict and dependency on the drugs worsen.

It is the little expensive amount of the deadly drug that is the very reason it is easy to peddle and hide as well as difficult for the law enforcers to frame or charge the arrested peddlers under the relevant narcotic law.

“During many raids in the city we recovered ice from the drug smugglers but they got away with crime as the amount of ice in grams worth a lot of money was not punishable under the law. They were just fined and released,” said a police official on condition of anonymity.

However, Noor Alam, a senior lawyer, contested it and said that under 9(C) of CNSA, 1997 smugglers selling ice which, a psychotropic drug, were charged. In some cases smugglers accused and charged with smuggling some 500 grams to a little more than a kilogram were sentenced to 14 years imprisonment under the CNSA 1997.

“The problem is that police think of alcohol and charas as drugs but are not much aware of the more serious ice drug,” said Mr Alam. He said that due to alertness and euphoric feelings, the ice users felt after taking it, it had become popular with students during preparation for examinations.

This Article was originally published in Dawn

Horrifying memories of APS attack impede survivors’ studies

Horrifying memories of APS attack impede survivors’ studies

Adil Ali   14 December

After two years of the horrific attack on the Army Public School (APS), Peshawar, many surviving students find it hard to concentrate on their coursework as the gory incident keeps flashing back in their minds to distract them from studies.

Several survivors, who are now enrolled in different colleges after graduating from the APS, still feel traumatised. Reportedly, they were not satisfied with their academic performance as much as they used to be before the Dec 16, 2014 attack.

They said that their capacity to pick lecture in classrooms and understand a topic through book reading had lowered alarmingly after witnessing the bloodbath on that fateful day.
Attack victims need regular, prolonged counselling, says a psychiatrist

“I get frightened whenever someone speaks loudly or walks in a hurry,” says Amir Ameen, one of the survivors. Though the bullet wound on his left arm has healed, the gory incident left a deep scar on Amir’s life with problems he is still struggling to overcome.

Mr Amir said that after losing his friend-like brother Ishaq Ameen he was missing him at every moment of life as they would play together, enjoy the picnic places, and study and sleep in the same room of their house.

“When I turn off the light and go to sleep, the entire episode of APS attack recycles in my mind,” said Mr Amir, who is now a student of Mechanical Engineering in Sarhad University, Peshawar. Sometimes, he also hears those deafening blasts in dream.

He says he feel relieved from the trauma during daytime for being busy in the university and with his friends. But while sitting alone, Mr Amir says he remembers his brother and rest of the classmates who lost their lives in the militant attack.

Vowing to continue his education, he said that time of death was fixed and no one could escape that moment when it would come.

Maaz Irfan, another survivor, is still going through trauma amid continuous surgeries of his left elbow. “So far, I have gone through four major and several minor surgeries, but despite that my elbow is not folding,” said Maaz, who is now a student of Islamia College.

Another major surgery would be conducted on Dec 20 in Lahore, he said. “My mother, who is a psychiatrist, says that the horrifying memories linked with the terrorist attack on APS will fade away gradually,” he said.

“I get panicked whenever I hear gunshots. Even a cracker blast by children in marriage ceremonies frightens me,” he said, while sharing his experiences in routine life. Maaz said that he couldn’t focus fully while reading a book.

“A psychiatrist has been examining me every week, but still I avoid going to noisy places like bazaars, functions, etc,” said Malik Tahir Awan. “I have lost nine friends, all 10th graders. I cannot forget them,” he said.

Muneebullah Shah, one of the survivors, said that impact of the trauma was very high in the initial days, which had reduced to some extent.

The normal grief on the death of a near and dear one depends on the age of the deceased person, nature of death, whether natural or unnatural, sudden or after a prolonged disease and on the emotional bonds of the family members of the deceased, said Dr Mian Iftikhar Hussain, when asked about the trauma among the survivors.

Dr Hussain, a known psychiatrist and psychotherapist, said that in case of a normal death the grief prolonged from three to six months. The grief of the victims and survivors of the APS attack will prolong from a minimum of one year to many years because of the unnatural, unexpected death due to a catastrophic incident, he said.

The victims and survivors of the APS massacre need regular and prolonged counselling sessions, he said, adding the joint counselling sessions of the parents and survivors were also needed for a prolonged period where they could share their grief and lessen their miseries.

All these counselling services need to be provided by the government by involving psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. The parents and survivors of the incident need to be facilitated to come out of this grief smoothly, Dr Hussain suggested.

They need to be helped out to come to terms with the loss as soon as possible and enabled to continue their life ahead without weeping constantly on their wounds, he said. These wounds of great loss need to be healed as soon as possible though the scars will remain.

The grief of the parents and survivors need to be redirected to purposeful, welfare activities that could bring them satisfaction, he said, adding that regular recreational activities might be provided to them to facilitate this process.

He mentioned that after one year to the incident the parents and the survivors were still passing through the grief and holding portraits of the victims. “In my opinion the required counselling services have not been provided. Access by psychiatric and psychological service providers to the survivors and parents of the APS students has been restricted for unknown reasons,” he said.

Both fathers and mothers of the victims have been passing through miseries and prolonged grief, but in Dr Hussain’s opinion the grief of the mothers was more than the fathers because of the greater biological, physiological and psychological bonds.

The mothers are restricted to their homes and relatives in our culture, so they find fewer opportunities than fathers to express their emotions and vent their grief.

The parents are not satisfied with the probe into the APS attack, as details about the incident have not been shared with them. So, this illusion about the APS incident, why and how it happened will also be a significant factor in prolonging the grief of the parents and survivors, he said.

H/T: Dawn News