Pharma Veterans

World Drug Report 2023 – Part 2 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #886 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #886 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans  aims to share knowledge and wisdom from Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Baqir Zaidi Credit: Sinitta Leunen Credit: Towfique Barbhuiya UNODC - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has published World Drug Report 2023 (link at the end) which shows where the world is vis-à-vis drugs and crime. I am reproducing here the highlights of the report in summarized way. Key Message #4 – Large inequalities remain in the availability of pharmaceutical opioids for medical consumption, and treatment of drug abuse. The issues with opioid abuse besides, inequality exists even in the availability of these pharmaceutical products between high-in...

Greetings - New Year 2023 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #739 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #739 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. YEAR 2023 HAS STARTED. IT IS TIME FOR USUAL GREETINGS, WISHES, AND PRAYERS. I PRAY AND WISH THAT PAKISTAN GETS OUT OF THE ABYSS IT IS IN NOW, THAT THE PEOPLE GET MUCH NEEDED RELIEF, AND THAT WE SEE OUR COUNTRY OUT OF THE CLUTCHES OF THE CORRPUPT, INCOMPETENT, MYOPIC, SELF-CENTERED, AND SELFISH RULERS, WHEREVER THEY COME FROM. AAMEEN. I ALSO PRAY THAT EACH ONE OF US GETS APPROPRIATE COMPENSATION FOR OUR HARD WORK AND BENEFITS WHICH ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT. AAMEEN. Every year is a usual mix of happy and sad events, but the year 2022 has been particularly devasta...

Drug Abuse in Pakistan 3 – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #588 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #588. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Most addicts use Heroin through smoking, either in a cigarette, or directly. However, 15-20% addicts usually inject drugs. Particularly, those who use opiates and morphine inject these drugs. The survey shows that there had been a marked increase in injecting practice since previous survey. On a lifetime measure of injecting, 31% respondents reported ‘ever-injecting’. On average, they would inject four times on a typical injecting day. 70% or more injected with a syringe already used by another addict. Similarly, they passed on the same syringe to next addicts. It can be inferred that...

Drug Abuse in Pakistan 1 – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #586 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #586. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Drug abuse is a worldwide problem. It is a serious problem in Pakistan also. However, for some time, we do not hear about it in the media and official circles. It looks like it is being underplayed for some reason. The problem nevertheless exists and has a growing trend. I shall dedicate this blog series for update on this important issue. The first part is about the background of drug use/abuse in Pakistan. Addiction of opium was long recognized by the government, and it issued licenses for selling opium. The licensed shops received their supplies from the government and sold it to a...

Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #285. Pharma Veterans shares the wealth of knowledge and wisdom of Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog  is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress , the top blog site.  If you wish to share your stories, ideas and thoughts, please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here . Continued from Previous…… Pharma Industry is like any other industry; like private hospitals, private medical colleges and private education. It is ‘for-Profit’. The serving of humanity myth was always a myth. Big Pharma of the world have been implicated in undesirable activities and have been prosecuted and fined as well. This is a large topic which may be taken separately. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh have highly developed, robust Pharma Industry. So do Iran and Turkey. Afghanistan is almost entirely dependent on import as the local industry is insignificant...