Usage of seized cocaine & drugs for making medicines: Afridi stands by his statement

State Minister Shehryar Afridi on Wednesday stood by his statement regarding usage of cocaine and other drugs for manufacturing medicines, saying that all developed countries follow this practice.

Responding to criticism over a video circulating on social media in which he says that the state burns tonnes of drugs, which are seized by the Customs and other relevant departments during the whole year and burnt on International Customs Day, while they can be used making medicines.

He had also announced that a factory was being built on the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan where drug seeds would be used for manufacturing medicines.

Talking to reporters here, the Safron minister said that India had earned $22 billion by exporting medicines made by drug seeds.

"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," he added.

"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," he said.

He said that though poppy seeds are not being grown in Pakistan since 2001, they were still found in Afghanistan, which is near Tirah, where he was speaking. "But [in areas] where all resources are available, they can be utilised [in a] positive way to make medicines. Maybe the [point] was lost in translation from Pashto," he added.