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...

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...