Shehryar Afridi defends his comments about usage of opium & drugs for manufacturing medicines
State Minister Shehryar Afridi stood by his comments regarding the usage of opium and other drugs to manufacture medicines that had drawn a nationwide criticism.
On Wednesday, he yet again appeared to be defending his remarks by saying that the practice was followed by all developed countries.
Earlier, the state minister in a public gathering in Tirah valley said the country burned tonnes of drugs recovered every year when they can be used to make medicines.
He also told that on the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan a factory was being built where seized drugs would be used to manufacture medicines.
In a media talk on Wednesday, he said that our neighboring country India had earned $22 billion by exporting medicines made by drugs.
“All the seized drugs [including] hemp, CBD oil [can be used] to make organic medicine for homeopathy, allopathy,” he said adding that “the vision of the prime minister is to take proactive initiatives and use every resource — even the ones that are an affliction — which have a positive utility.”
“There is a saying in English: ‘Nothing is good or bad, it is the thinking that makes it so.’ People whose minds are full of negativity will present even good things as negative.”
The state minister further said that since 2001 poppy seeds are not being grown in Pakistan, it is easily available in Afghanistan, which is near Tirah, the place he was speaking.
“But [in areas] where all resources are available, they can be utilized [in a] positive way to make medicines. Maybe the [point] was lost in translation from Pashto,” he said.
