–Shehryar Afridi says ANF will setup factory to make medicines from seized drugs on PM’s directions

Minister of State for Narcotics Control Shehryar Afridi on Monday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan wants the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to stop burning charas and other seized drugs, and instead set up a factory where they can be utilised to make medicines.

In a video doing rounds over the internet, Afridi can be heard as saying that his department was working to set up a factory on the premier’s orders. This factory would manufacture medicines solely from seized drugs, thousands of kilogrammes of which are set ablaze every year at a drug-burning ceremony held by the ANF.

“We are setting up a factory… we burn a huge cache of heroin, charas [hashish form of cannabis] and afeem [opium] every year, but other countries use them to make medicines. Now, on PM Imran Khan’s instructions, a factory will be established in Tirah [Valley] so that lives of locals can be improved,” he said.

According to research conducted by many reliable sources over the years, cannabis, marijuana or hashish has long been known to provide pain relief from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, nausea, and can also minimise some symptoms of glaucoma and Crohn’s disease.

Similarly, a study at Hannover Medical School found that opiate addicts — usually people addicted to painkillers like Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycontin, or Demerol — were able to better kick their opiate addiction after taking small dosages of heroin.