"Ban of alcohol in Pakistan is giving rise to drug addiction"!

ISLAMABAD, Feb 9 (Agencies): A parliamentarian in Pakistan has reportedly called upon the government to relax the ban on alcohol because, according to him, more and more youngsters were getting addicted to drugs like heroin and morphine in the absence of free availability of alcoholic drinks.

Putting forth his suggestion in the National Assembly yesterday during a debate, treasury member Ali Akbar Wains said that by banning the "minor evil" of alcohol, the government had given the "major evil" of drugs to flourish in the country.

According to the Daily Times, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi seconded Wains' suggestion.

"In my personal opinion, the government should relax the ban on liquor to arrest the rising trend of the use of drugs like heroin, morphine and hashish among the youth of the country.

Most drug addicts are between the ages of 20 and 30 years," Wains said.iazi said he supported Wains' suggestion, saying: "It is a fact that restrictions on liquor have resulted in a surge in the use of deadly drugs in Pakistan.

I am not going to mention how many members of this honourable house drink." Through the Speaker of the National Assembly expunged his remarks, but Niazi insisted that he stood by them.

The suggestion that the alcohol ban should be lifted drew wide grins from most of the parliamentarians in the house, but they stayed silent.

The debate started during question hour when Gulzar Sabtain, parliamentary secretary for narcotics control, told the Lower House that there were over four million drug addicts in Pakistan.

"Out of these four million, 500,000 are chronic heroin addicts including 60,000 intravenous drug users.

The rest use drugs other than heroin," Sabtain said.