Pakistan is grappling with a worsening crisis of youth drug abuse and rising suicide rates, according to local media reports citing a 2025 systematic review of rehabilitation cases.
The study found that heroin accounts for 48 per cent of substance abuse cases among young users, while cannabis makes up 28 per cent, underscoring the alarming scale and severity of addiction among the country’s youth population.
According to the study, thirty-five per cent began using drugs in adolescence, and 46 per cent were diagnosed with comorbid depression.
According to a 2024 survey cited at Karachi University, 44 per cent of university and college students admitted to drug use, including 53 per cent of males and 31 per cent of females, with a growing trend of online procurement, Pakistani daily The Express Tribune reported.
Reports suggest that suicide has emerged as the fourth leading cause of death among Pakistanis under 30. Adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years appear especially vulnerable, with poisoning and hanging identified as the common methods. The reliable monthly official statistics remain unavailable, largely due to criminalisation and stigma surrounding suicide.
Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force has warned that millions between the ages of 18 and 31 face potential risk, despite methodological gaps; the broader trend is evident, The Express Tribune reported.
A 2025 longitudinal clinical review covering fifteen years documented rising drug positivity rates, with cannabis present in more than 20 to 30 per cent of tested samples, followed by opioids and benzodiazepines.
Over 70 per cent of identified addicts were above 35 years of age. Economic hardship, easy availability of Afghan-sourced cannabis and heroin, and untreated mental illness combine to fuel the crisis.
Citing the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, The Express Tribune reported that an estimated 6.7 and 7.6 million across Pakistan, roughly six per cent of the population, use drugs, with around four million requiring structured treatment.
Among Pakistan’s provinces, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa reported a prevalence rate of 11 per cent. Suicide rates, based on WHO data from 2019 and 2021, stand at approximately 8.9 per 100,000, with male rates more than three times higher than female rates—translating to an estimated 15 to 35 deaths per day.
The data from Punjab between 2016 and 2020 showed that individuals aged 19 to 39 accounted for nearly 39 per cent of reported cases, with poisoning and strangulation as the prevalent methods, while poverty and domestic conflict were identified as underlying factors.
“The quiet emergency in Pakistan is not only statistical. It is cultural. It resides in how we speak to our children, how we measure success, how we treat failure, and how quickly we label vulnerability as weakness. Until we address those foundations, the numbers will continue to rise, sporadically recorded and inadequately debated,” the Express Tribune stated.
