LAHORE - May 11: The Drug Court of Lahore division has filed 1027 cases of Drug Act violations and charged fine of Rs.10,0247 during the last year. This was stated by Director Pharmacy of Punjab Institute of Mental Health - Farooq Bashir Butt who is also a member of the Drug Court, Lahore while talking to this scribe recently.
He said that most of the cases in which punishments were awarded were about sale of medicines without drug licenses, spurious drugs and other violations of Drug Act 1976.
Responding a question about the structure and process of drug courts, he said that; a drug court comprises of three members; One chairman who is from the judiciary and two other members from the technical cadre i.e. pharmacists or medical officers.
He also stated that; the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi had one drug court each, while every district has a district Drug Quality Board, which acts under the respective DCO.
First the drug inspector files a case in Drug Quality Board, where after its initial hearing it is sent to the relevant drug court for further proceeding. He informed. Around 1500 cases were pending in 2013 out of which 1065 were decided with untiring efforts from the Chairman of the Drug Court - Sardar Ashiq Hussain Baloch and other members including; Prof.Mubashir Ahmed and Farooq Bashir Butt.
Among the decided cases, 25 accused persons were released due to their non-involvement in the drug offense, while a total of seven years, two months and 23 days imprisonment was awarded to the culprits in different cases. However, around 400 cases are still pending in the Drug Court of Lahore.
