The initiative will be funded in part by the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). It marks the official beginning of the National Drug Use Survey Pakistan 2022-23 by the Ministry of Narcotics Control and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The inaugural event will be attended by Nawabzada Shazain Bugti, Federal Minister for Narcotics Control. The event will be co-chaired by Federal Secretary Humaira Ahmed, and will be attended by UN counterparts, members of the international community, senior government officials, representatives of private-sector associations, development partners, academia, ambassadors, diplomats, and colleagues from UN agencies.
In 2012 and 2013, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducted a comparable study in Pakistan in partnership with the Ministry of Narcotics Control and other national stakeholders to assess the amount and patterns of drug use in the country.
Overall, nearly 6% of the population – 9.0% of the adult male population and 2.9% of the adult female population – or 6.7 million people – used a drug other than cigarettes or alcohol in the year preceding the poll.
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