By Manahil Mushtaq
ISLAMABAD, Aug 22 (APP):: “I was in 6th grade when I lit my first cigarette, just weeks after losing my mother,” recalled Saad, a BS student at a local university whose voice trembled as he recounted becoming prey to addiction. “I didn’t know what I was running from, but I knew I didn’t want to feel anything. What started as a way to numb the pain quickly turned into an addiction I couldn’t escape.”
Behind every drug-addicted student lies a story most people never hear, stories not of rebellion, but of loss, trauma, loneliness, and silent suffering. For Saad, what began as a cigarette in a too young age evolved into a chain of dependencies. He didn’t choose drugs to feel high, he chose them to feel nothing.
Psychological deprivation and unresolved emotional pain are often at the root of such decisions. Talking to APP, clinical psychologist and psychosexual family therapist Dr. Sobia Khateeb explained that addiction rarely begins with the drug itself, it begins with what’s missing.
“Peer pressure, trauma, academic stress, low self-worth, and family conflict are among the major triggers,” she explained. “Most young people are not looking to get high. They’re looking for relief, from grief, loneliness, or pressure to perform.”
“Saad’s story is just one thread in a growing web of youth addiction across Pakistan, particularly within the student population, where academic pressure, emotional neglect, and easy access to harmful substances are quietly fuelling a crisis few dare to confront out loud,” says psychiatrist Dr Zainab talking to this scribe.
Dr. Muhammad Manshoor Hussain Abbasi, Assistant Professor at COMSATS University Islamabad, pointed to the growing popularity of substances like vape pods and nicotine pouches, seemingly considered harmless.
“These are consumed secretly, often under the impression they’re not as harmful,” he told APP. “While smoking is banned on campus, the university can’t monitor students off-campus. Within our premises, the Proctorial Board enforces strict discipline. If a student is caught, the case is reviewed and appropriate action, ranging from fines to suspension, is taken.”
Dr. Abbasi also emphasized that prevention goes beyond punishment. “It’s about creating awareness and giving students reasons to say no.”
At NUML University, an educationist Muhammad Sanaullah Khan takes a proactive approach. “Conversations matter,” he said while speaking to APP. “I integrate real-life cases into my lessons to show what drug use does in the long run. I also check in on students who seem withdrawn or stressed.”
“Being an educator today means being more than a teacher. You have to build trust. Only then will students come to you before they turn to drugs.”
Drug addiction is not just a health issue, it’s a social, educational, and moral crisis. It threatens students’ futures, damages their mental health, ruins careers, and destroys relationships.
Substances like vape pods, Velo, and synthetic drugs are becoming dangerously normalized, often with no effective checks or monitoring.
Law enforcement officials acknowledge the growing concern. Speaking to APP, Waseem Raja, a senior police official at Margalla Police Station, revealed that drug-related offenses involving youth are taken seriously.
“We track drug peddlers in collaboration with civil society. Their records are reviewed and repeat offenders are punished under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act,” he stated. “If students are caught using drugs outside their campuses, we involve their families and institutions immediately. Counseling is the first step, but serious or repeat offenders face legal action.”
He stressed that the approach is both preventive and corrective. “We want to cut off supply chains and help students find a path back, not just throw them behind bars.”
Experts agree that tackling this epidemic demands a unified approach: families must provide emotional support, schools and universities need robust awareness programs and counseling, governments should enforce stricter regulations and awareness campaigns, and communities must break the stigma surrounding mental health and addiction.
Laiba Fatima, a 21-year-old university student, echoed this reality. “Drugs became a way to escape,” she told APP. “There were too many problems in my life at once. And when you don’t have emotional support, it becomes your only way out. I’ve tried to quit, but it’s hard if you don’t have people who care.”
On the other side of the spectrum, Etisam ul Haq, a student at COMSATS University Islamabad, shared with this scribe how he resisted the pull of addiction. “Friends kept pushing me, just try it once.’ But I was lucky,” he said. “Strict parenting, a disciplined home, and supportive friends helped me stay away.
As Saad quietly added before ending his conversation, “If someone had just talked to me, just once to hear my grief, maybe I wouldn’t be where I am today.”