Say no to drugs project.

Executing Youth Group starts a "say no to drugs" project in Lahore:

Currently, Pakistan is confronting numerous problems. One of the major problems is: addiction/drug abuse. The number of addicts in Pakistan is around seven million; however this number is growing day by day. This is a highly alarming situation for a developing country like ours. A very commonly used drug is “heroin” which is produced from the poppy plant.

The producing region of poppy plant and heroin is our neighboring country Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan. They have the most lucrative business for drug users. The most convenient and easiest market for the drug producers and smugglers is available and flourishing in Pakistan. These drugs are also smuggled to Europe, America and other countries of the world. However, at present, due to the presence of NATO forces in the region, it’s a bit difficult for the drug dealers to export/smuggle it to other parts of the world. Under such situation Pakistan is the softest target for them.

The money earned by smuggling which the drug dealers earn from smuggling use to fulfill their evil deeds. They also buy weapons to create uproar in our country and to counter any sort of progressive move in the tribal areas in the fields of education, business and tourism etc.

Their main target is youth literacy or illiteracy. The culture of smoking in youth is increasing rapidly. The young people studying in High schools start smoking for fun. We see them in uniforms standing outside the schools’ premises and enjoying smoking individually or in groups. Gradually, they become habitual of smoking which leads them towards drug addiction.

The labor class of children from age 12 and above (sometimes below 12) starts smoking due to various reasons. One of the main reasons for them is the furious attitude of their employers. We see them working and smoking at mechanics workshops, bicycle repair shops, small hotels/restaurants and at other workplaces. In both cases, i.e. students or labor class children, they take advantage of being out of home and out of sight of their parents.

It is not our duty and it is not possible for us to stop drug smuggling business within Pakistan or around the world. But we can educate our youth about the life threatening hazards of drug addiction by carrying out little efforts at right time. Instead of running towards the path of drug addiction they may come back on the right track again to enjoy a healthy life and become progressive citizens of the country.

i) We worked voluntarily for the rehabilitation of flood victims being run jointly by British Council and FACES Pakistan under the title “From Raddi to Rehabilitation”. We collected raddi (old newspapers/other used papers) to generate funds/donation for the flood victims.
ii) We visited Nowshera for a day to distribute different household goods including food items among the flood victims.
iii) We are running awareness programme for young people regarding life-threatening hazards of drug hazards. In this regard we conducted corner meetings with youth.

We also organized a seminar at our residence in Ali Colony Walton Road, Lahore on Nov. 12, 2010 titled “ON THE ROAD AGAIN”. A number of domestic young people attended this seminar and appreciated the objective of our programme.