Drugs Business Worth Rs 7500 Crore in Punjab Every Year
30 LAKHS PEOPLE ADDICTED TO DRUGS
Punjab has always found it very difficult to deal with the menace of drug abuse. Drugs are being sold here for many years, while talk of ending drugs is also happening for many years. No concrete measures are being taken for the prevention of drugs in Punjab. Keeping this in the center, Bollywood also made a film. The drug problem has played an important role in many state elections. Every political party has been winning the votes of the people by making big promises in the elections. Governments are formed but the illegal business of drugs never stops. When a strategy fails to achieve its goals. So for this a visionary and courageous political leadership should be followed so that the chances of success can be increased. To counter the alarming situation of drug menace in Punjab, there is a need to modify the current strategies. Drug prevention measures cannot be implemented in the state by political spectacle and statements. Drug trafficking and widespread drug addiction have become one of the most notable socio-political challenges of Punjab. This situation is becoming a threat to the national security of the entire country. Especially, considering the enormity of this problem in a sensitive border state like Punjab, such an all-out war should be waged against it. The drug problem in Punjab has become worse than it has been in the last several years. According to the National Crime Records Bureau report released this year, the state of Punjab has now come in third place in terms of drug use and trafficking. In its book ‘Roadmap for Prevention and Control of Substance Abuse in Punjab’, the second edition of the Department of Medicine, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, states that more than 30 lakh people in Punjab are currently addicted to substance abuse. Have become addicted. These figures are going to worry everyone.
The growing network of drug peddlers is affecting the lives of Punjabi youth badly. People of Punjab take many types of drugs like Bhukki, opium, heroin, medical intoxication and synthetic. But in all this Heroin, which is also known as Chitta. In earlier times, the people of Punjab used to take intoxication of opium and Bhukki. Elderly people of the state believe that drug addicts did not die from this. He worked harder than the common people and took care of his family. In the last few years, Chitta is becoming the choice of people. Drug smugglers have taken this dangerous chitta intoxication to the streets of every village and city. Most of the youth of Punjab have become addicted to chitta intoxication. Youth are dying due to overdose of drugs like medical, synthetic and chitta. In the year 2018, STF recorded 118 deaths due to drug overdose in Punjab. But the death toll from drug overdose is expected to be higher. In those days, the Chief Health Secretary of Punjab told that “The number of such deaths is much more than this. The correct data will not be known about this, because the victim’s family does not tell that it is due to drugs due to fear of social defamation.” Deaths occurred. Media reports suggest that people use drugs differently in rural and urban areas. Medical drug abuse is more common in cities, while heroin or chitta are more common in rural areas.
Punjab has become an attractive market for drug gangs in today’s time. This is known only from the recently released National Crime Records Bureau report. According to the report, the state of Punjab has now come in third place in terms of drug use and trafficking. The report revealed that Uttar Pradesh now ranks first with 10,432 FIRs registered under the NDPS Act. After this, the second number comes from Maharashtra, where around 10,078 cases were registered. Punjab is at the third place, where 9,972 FIRs were registered. An estimated Rs 7,500 crore worth of drugs trade in Punjab every year. According to PGIMER, about 15.4 percent of Punjab’s population is currently consuming drugs. Amid growing concern over the situation in Punjab, the Supreme Court this month also issued directions to the state government to be vigilant and watchful of the drug menace. The scenario of ‘Udta Punjab’ is reflected in a study by the Institute for Development and Communications, Chandigarh. Which concluded that 75.8 per cent of the drug addicts surveyed lived in border districts and most are aged between 15-35 years. On the other hand, according to the news published in the media, on the instructions of the Chief Minister of Punjab, the Punjab Police has arrested 8755 drug peddlers since July 5, 2022, in the campaign against drugs. During this, the police have also registered a total of 6667 FIRs. Regarding this matter, the Inspector General of Police has also informed the media that police teams have recovered 325.55 kg of heroin by conducting blockade and search operations in sensitive places and drug affected areas across the state.
Along with this, the police also recovered drug money worth Rs 5.80 crore from the possession of the arrested drug peddlers in these five months. On the other hand, teams of Punjab Police in collaboration with Border Security Force (BSF) recovered 15.34 kg of heroin dropped by drones and also recovered four drones within just one week.
Drugs are abused in a variety of ways oral consumption, smoking, snorting and injection. In today’s era, most of the youth of Punjab are taking drugs through injection in the form of stream. Such use of drugs is the most powerful. Injection drug users sit in a group and share with each other. Reusing needles and syringes too often makes them dangerous. Along with needles and syringes, blood also passes from one to the other. One HIV positive person in the group infects the rest of the group. Some drugs are meant to be used in more than one way, for example the pure form of heroin can also be injected. Similarly, some people take heroin in the form of smoking. This makes injecting heroin more harmful than smoking it. On this issue, an STF official also told the media that drug addicts take drugs according to the supply. He told that if there is strictness against one drug, then the addicts start taking other types of drugs. If experts are to be believed, they say that once a person gets addicted to narcotics like chemical chitta, it is very difficult for him to leave it. He also says that for the last few months, pills are being given in government hospitals of Punjab to get rid of drug addiction. These pills are having a very bad effect on the liver and kidney. Today very bad conditions are visible in Punjab. The tablets which are being given to people in government hospitals and de-addiction centers of Punjab to wean them away from smack, charas, cocaine and heroin. The drug addict has started using these pills only to fulfill his addiction. That is, to get rid of one addiction, other addictions are being injected. It has also been learned that some drug addicts start queuing up in government hospitals and de-addiction centers early in the morning. From there they take pills and sell them to other people and buy chitta with that money to fulfill their addiction.
