Drug Trade

This page provides key documents, facts and figures about the country and the regional drug trade. It will be regularly updated with relevant reports and statistics.

Overview

"Pakistan is one of the countries hardest hit by narcotics abuse in the world. According to national drug abuse surveys, the number of chronic abusers of heroin increased from about 20,000 in 1980 to more than 1.5 million in the late 1990's." - Country Profile, Country Office Pakistan, United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, 2010

"...significant transit area for Afghan drugs, including heroin, opium, morphine, and hashish, bound for Iran, Western markets, the Gulf States, Africa, and Asia; financial crimes related to drug trafficking, terrorism, corruption, and smuggling remain problems; opium poppy cultivation estimated to be 2,300 hectares in 2007 with 600 of those hectares eradicated; federal and provincial authorities continue to conduct anti-poppy campaigns that utilizes forced eradication, fines, and arrests." Illicit Drugs, CIA World Factbook, 2010

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran are collectively known as the "Golden Crescent" region. Iran Country Factsheet [pdf], The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies Program, 2004

The drug eradication strategy of the Government of Pakistan focuses on:

• the elimination of poppy cultivation
• the destruction of heroin laboratories
• interdiction
• precursor control

and in terms of demand reduction, on:

• Mass awareness
• Treatment and rehabilitation

*Source: Ministry of Narcotics, Government of Pakistan

Official Links

• Ministry of Narcotics, Government of Pakistan
• Country Office Pakistan, United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime

Pakistan has ratified the following:

• Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961as amended by the 1972 Protocol
• United Nations (UN) Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971
• United Nations (UN) Convention against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988 and subsequent United Nations (UN) resolutions, in particular the United Nations(UN) General Assembly's 20th Special Session Resolution S-20/4B
• South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1990
• Protocol on Drug Matters with Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Countries

*Source: Ministry of Narcotics, Government of Pakistan

Official Documents

Pakistan Government

• Highlights from the National Drug Assessment Study Pakistan 2006-07, United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime and the Ministry of Narcotics, Government of Pakistan

International Bodies

• World Drug Report 2009, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
• Provision of International Assistance to the Most Affected States Neighbouring Afghanistan - Report of the Executive Director, United Nations Economic and Social Council - Commission on Narcotics and Drugs, January 2009
• World Drug Report 2008, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
• Annual Report 2008, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
• The Green Paper, Regional "Rainbow Strategy" Papers, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2007
• Current Situation with Respect to Regional and Subregional Cooperation - Report of the Secretariat, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime - Subcommission on Illicit Drug Traffic and Related Matters in the Near Middle East, November 2008

Statistics

• Seizure Daily Highlights, Ministry of Narcotics Control, Pakistan
  
  
• "The nexus of drugs, crime, and insurgency has become stronger, also spilling over into neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan." - Addiction, Crime And Insurgency: The Transnational Threat Of Afghan Opium [pdf], United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, October 2009
  
  
• "The world consumes some 3,700 tons of illicit opium per year (1/3 raw and 2/3 processed into heroin) and seizes 1,000 tons. Illicit opiate trade flows have never been previously known: this report breaks new ground by estimating them by country (and regions). Every year, the equivalent of some 3,500 tons of opium flow from Afghanistan to the rest of the world, via its immediate neighbours: 40 per cent through the Islamic Republic of Iran, 30 per cent through Pakistan, and the rest through Central Asia (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan)." Addiction, Crime And Insurgency: The Transnational Threat Of Afghan Opium, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, October 2009
  
  
• "...the Taliban and other al-Qaeda linked groups have been taking a share of the $1 billion opiate market in Pakistan" Addiction, Crime and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, October 2009
• "In 2008 and 2009, religious extremist groups controlled major portions of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where most of Pakistan's poppy is grown. These extremist groups also pushed into settled areas of the country's Northwest Frontier Province, such as the Peshawar Valley and the Swat Valley. The Government of Pakistan was compelled to divert manpower and equipment resources from poppy eradication efforts to contest these incursions.The joint Narcotics Affairs Section and Pakistan's Narcotics Control Cell indicated that 1,909 hectares of poppy were cultivated in 2008 (approximately one percent of the cultivation in Afghanistan). This is down from the 2,315 hectares cultivated in 2007. In 2007, when the insurgent problem was not as widespread, 614 hectares were eradicated, bringing harvested poppy down to 1,701 hectares. During 2008, there were significant narcotics and precursor chemical seizures in Pakistan. United States counternarcotics and border security assistance programs continue to build the counternarcotics capacity of law enforcement agencies, especially in Baluchistan and along the Makran coast." Presidential Determination No. 2009-30, The White House, US Government

Maps and Charts

Refugee Camps and Heroin Seizure Locations in Balochistan, 2002 - 2008

Map of Drug Seizures, January to May 2007

Source: Anti-narcotics Force Pakistan in Illicit Drug Trends in Pakistan, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Country Office Pakistan, April 2008

Drug Trafficking Routes in Pakistan, 2009

Addiction, Crime And Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, October 2009

Possible Regional Trafficking Routes through Pakistan, 2008

Source: Anti-narcotics Force Pakistan in Illicit Drug Trends in Pakistan, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Country Office Pakistan, April 2008

Illicit Drug Seizures (kg) in Pakistan, 1996 - 2007

Source: Anti-narcotics Force Pakistan in Illicit Drug Trends in Pakistan, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Country Office Pakistan, April 2008