Senate body passes ‘Control of Narcotics Substances Bill 2020’

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control on Tuesday unanimously passed “The Control of Narcotics Substances (Second Amendment) Bill 2020”. The committee met here at Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhary.
Committee considered the bill titled “The Control of Narcotics Substances (Second Amendment) Bill 2020” as passed by National Assembly and referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control by the House in its sitting held on 13th July, 2021 for consideration and report.
The committee members were briefed by Secretary Ministry of Narcotics Control regarding the proposed amendment.
The bill was passed unanimously after due deliberations. The chairman congratulated the committee members for reaching consensus.
He termed the bill as very important piece of legislation as it was related to well-being of future generations. Senator Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhary said that in order to keep our educational institutions drug free we had retained the proposal for capital punishment as deterrence.
The chairman remarked that “we need to work towards rehabilitation of drug addicts for which he proposed that treatment and rehabilitation cost be brought under the ambit of Health Card so that poor people can benefit from this,”. “We will try to engage health establishments for dedicated beds in every hospital in order to treat people with drug addiction,” he added.
The meeting was attended by Senators, Dost Muhammad Khan, Falak Naz, Rana Maqbool Ahmad, Shahadat Awan, Anwar Lal Dean, Naseebullah Bazai and senior officials from Ministry of Narcotics Control.