Pharma Veterans

World Drug Report 2023 – Last Part – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #887 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #887 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: Alena Baliaeva Credit: Cristian Arias Credit: Damian Barczak Credit: Anecb YcuiHay 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 #9 – Forcibly displaced populations suffer an elevated vulnerability to mental health and substance use disorders. By mid-2022, the number of people who had been forcibly displaced worldwide had exceeded 100 million, which was more than...

World Drug Report 2023 – Part 1 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #885 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #885 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: Alesia Kozik Credit: MART Production Credit: Zarina Khalilova We are now talking about DRUGS, the illicit compounds of various types and abused medicines.  This is the latest information from UNODC - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. They have published World Drug Report 2023 (link at the end) which shows where the world is vis-à-vis drugs and crime; illicit drugs or abused medicines are a crime by itself and leads to more crimes. This report such important information that it should be shared in detail and shared publicly to raise awareness. I sh...

Drug Abuse in Pakistan 6 – Last Part – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #591 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #591. 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. I would like to quote results of one more study and then we move to sum up our discussion on the topic of drug abuse in Pakistan. This 2018 study was conducted on addicts admitted in the rehabilitation centers of Islamabad. A total of 102 male patients were interviewed, whose mean age was 28.4 years (+ 9.8). 14% were aged between 15-20 years. 35% initiated drug abuse during teen years. 60% were skilled, and 47% with secondary education, and 8% were students. Heroin was the most abused substance (48%) followed by Cannabis (28%). Mean duration of substance abuse was 1 to 5 y...

Drug Abuse in Pakistan 5 – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #590 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #590. 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. I would like to quote from a very recent article (published December 14, 2021) by a student at National Defence University, Islamabad, Ms. Palwasha Khan. “With the recent withdrawal of US troops and NATO forces from Afghanistan and the takeover of the Taliban, the smuggling of narcotics into Pakistan has further increased. In Pakistan, the prevalence of drug abuse is increasing at an alarming rate. However, risk factors, which are increasing vulnerability toward addiction, remain largely elusive.” The most used drugs are heroin and marijuana, with cannabinoids becoming more popular. O...

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 2 – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #587 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #587. 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. Pakistan has suffered greatly in the aftermath of chaotic events in its neighbourhood, for no fault of its own. Or maybe it was our fault that we did not see it coming and did not put-up appropriate defences to stop it. Pakistan Narcotics Board was set up in 1957 to fulfill our obligation under the International Opium Convention of 1925. It comprised of representatives from provincial governments and some federal ministries. Pakistan Narcotics Control Board – PNCB was established in 1973 in response to UN Convention on Narcotics Control, with the mandate to combat narcotics in the cou...

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...

  License for Hemp Use; A Bold Decision II – Blog Post #377 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #377. Pharma Veterans welcomes 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 .   Continued from Previous…… While medical research is making big strides in the field of Cannabis, the acceptance and legalization is not as universal. The first countries legalizing Cannabis for medical use were Canada and Uruguay. Uruguay is also the first country to legalize Cannabis for recreational use. Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research ( https://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu ) is based in the University of California, San Diego and is coordinating research on Cannabis. In 1999, California State legislated and commissioned University of California to es...

  License for Hemp Use; A Bold Decision I – Blog Post #376 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #376. Pharma Veterans welcomes 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 . Ch Fawad Hussain @fawadchaudhry Cabinet has approved first License for @MinistryofST and PCSIR for industrial and medical use of Hemp, landmark decision ll place Pakistan in billions of USD CBD market..... 3:32 PM · Sep 1, 2020 ·   917 Retweets and comments 4.7K   Likes This is yesterday's tweet by the Minister of Science & Technology. Chaudhry Fawad Hussain. The decision has appropriately sent ripples across and in 3 hours, there were 917 retweets and 4,700 likes.  As I publish this blogpost, the retweets have gone to 1200 and comme...