Punjab’s drug crisis

IN its manifesto for the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, the Congress had promised to wipe out the drug trade within four weeks of coming to power — just like that. Two and a half years later, the menace is still alive and kicking. The anti-drug campaign has largely focused on the little fish, while the big ones continue to evade the long arm of the law. A ‘nasha-mukt’ Punjab remains a distant dream.

The seizure of lakhs of habit-forming tablets and injections from chemist shops and godowns in Ludhiana and Faridkot underlines the easy availability of drugs. The Faridkot shop owner kept selling the contraband despite facing four cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in eight years. His purported links with law-enforcement officials emboldened him to cock a snook at the authorities and ensnare countless youths for so long. The shocking case of an Amritsar woman chaining her addicted daughter to keep her away from drugs has exposed the chinks in the state’s de-addiction programme. The woman has alleged that she took the girl to a government-run de-addiction centre thrice, but the doctors summarily discharged her in a few days every time. For the record, the normal duration of treatment ranges from six months to five years, according to a study commissioned by the Indian Council of Social Science and Research.

Punjab’s drug battle has to be fought relentlessly at the macro as well as micro levels. The border state has been bearing the brunt of drug smuggling from Pakistan, exemplified by the recovery of 532-kg heroin worth over Rs 2,600 crore at Attari in June-end this year. Last month, the Chief Ministers of Punjab and other northern states agreed on a series of collaborative measures to root out the scourge from the region. These steps are laudable, but the state government also needs to clean its Augean stables. Politicians patronising the drug trade should be brought to book, irrespective of their clout and party affiliations. The conduits are mere cogs in the nefarious wheel. The government’s mettle will be tested by how sincerely it acts to nail the influential drug lords.