KABUL - The counter-narcotics minister on Tuesday said amending the counter-narcotics law, revising the national counternarcotics strategy, developing anti-drug policies and capacity building of the ministry’s employees would be a priority during her first 100 days in office.

Inclusion of anti-drug contents in university syllabus, overseeing the Food Zone Programme in Kandahar province, conducting 35 national gatherings for raising awareness, picking homeless drug addicts from the streets of Kabul and completing 53 drug-alternative projects in different parts of the country comprised her other plans, said Salamat Azizi while presenting her ministry’s first 100-day action plan at a press conference in Kabul.

“In the face of mass production and smuggling of drugs and the presence of organised drug mafia groups, amendments to the counter-narcotics law are necessary. The new draft would be created in close coordination with the parliament,” she added.

To effectively deal with the menace of drugs, she said, a revision of the counter-narcotics national strategy had been started and would be completed over the next 100-days.

The revised strategy would benefit regional countries and would involve Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Azimi said currently poppy was being cultivated in 132 districts of the country, 56 percent of the cultivation took place in 10 districts, 36 percent in 31 districts and 8 percent in the remaining 90 districts. She said her ministry planned to reduce poppy growing by 90 percent in the coming 10 years. (Pajhwok)