COMSATS University Islamabad in collaboration with Islamabad Police organized an awareness session on Drug use among students. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Qazi Jamil-ur-Rehman was invited as keynote speaker at the session.
While opening the session, Prof. Dr. Muhammad T. Afzal, Rector CUI said that Islam prioritizes health and well-being of people. He informed that according to research over 90% of addictions to substances result from drug use before the age of 21. Prof. Afzal stressed that monitoring by parents is essential and has a preventive effect on drug use while parental permissiveness is the leading contributor to drug use. He also called on university teachers to play an active role as mentors in counselling students about the economic, social and behavioral aspects of drug abuse.
Later in a presentation, Faryal Fareed, Assistant Superintendent of Police, informed the students about the various legal aspects of drug use. She elaborated the effects of various commonly used drugs and their impact on psychological and behavioral well-being. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Qazi Jamil-ur-Rehman in his keynote said that use of drug leads towards destruction of the social fabric, therefore collective efforts are needed to make society free from this menace.
The IGP urged the parents, elders of families and teachers to keep continuous check on activities of children for their bright and secure future. He cited various examples to students whereby highly educated families had suffered losses due to one member becoming a drug addict. He said that drug abuse was at the root of several other ills in the society, so his department will now penalize institutions that do not take adequate measures to discourage drugs on campus.
Qazi Jamil-ur-Rehman said that during the current year, a huge cache of narcotics including heroin, hashish, ice and cocaine was recovered from drug pushers and a major chunk of the contraband was being supplied to educational institutions in Islamabad, which calls for a collective action.
The IGP lauded efforts of the administration for making COMSATS University smoke free and urged the students to keep a vigilant eye on their surroundings and inform police in case of observing any suspicious activity with regard to vending of illicit drugs. Besides students, the lecture was also attended by faculty staff, and senior police officials.
