Drugs addict sons, make widows in Punjab

Punjab faces the loss an entire generation to killer drugs

By Priyanka Bhardwaj 

For once Rahul Gandhi uttered the right words when he stated an indigestible fact that human resource potential of Punjab in the northwest of India is being destroyed because seven out of every 10 young men are addicted to drugs. 

The scion of India's longest-running political dynasty had no sooner opened his mouth, at a rally organized by National Students University of India at Punjab University campus in state capital of Chandigarh, than the states' ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance and sundry detractors accused him of making "derogatory, irresponsible" public statements and demanded a public apology. 

Rahul, general-secretary of the Indian National Congress party, had merely cited from a report prepared by the current state regime, and also referred to in another document of Punjab government entitled State Disaster Management Plan For 2010-11, which reads "some 73.5 per cent of state's youth between 16 and 35 years are confirmed drug addicts." 
The plan he mentioned reports surveys conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University in Punjab's largest city, Amritsar. It also quotes Raj Pal Meena, an ex-head of Anti-Narcotics Task Force of Punjab: "Punjab is teetering on the edge of an extraordinary human crisis, with an inordinately large number of youngsters hooked on to marijuana, opium and heroin, in addition to imbibing a range of prescriptive tablets." 

Flaying Rahul's remarks on the high incidence of drug abuse - especially in pinds (villages) along the border with Pakistan - Harcharan Singh Bains, an adviser to Punjab's Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, called him a "national joke". Badal accused Rahul of using "politically motivated diversionary tactic to cover up internal contradictions and infighting in Punjab unit of Congress.'' 

Punjab Youth Congress president Vikram Chowdhary pointed out that Badal, who directly controls the Border Security Force, had failed to curb trans-border smuggling of arms, drugs and fake currency. 
Such vehement denial of bitter reality by ruling forces has not gone down well with activists, health workers and many affected families who cite a 2009 note from Chief Election Commissioner SY Quaraishi for bringing attention to the menace. The note read: "We've encountered problems with liquor during elections in almost all states. But drug abuse is unique only to Punjab. This is really of concern." 

Public health worker Mandeep Sandhu said it would pay well to remember that concerns over the statistics for drug abuse have been behind recent innumerable police raids and the state's decision to set up addiction centers at each of its eight central jails. 

Punjab, which is situated between two major illicit opium producing centers in Asia - the Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle, functions as a transshipment point for heroin destined for Europe. Over time it has turned into a small local market for illicit drugs like raw opium, smack, heroin, synthetic drugs like morphine, pethidine, codeine and psychotropic substances like diazepam. 

Using the term 'drug-terrorism', anti-narco sleuths in the city of Chandigarh say that with the arrest of Punjabi militancy after it had peaked in eighties and early nineties, terrorists and global drug cartels operating in neighboring lands took to smuggling charas (cannabis resin), methaqualone, ephedrine, acetic anhydride and amphetamine into India using increased Indo-Pak cross border civilian traffic as a conduit. 

Each year the drug trade is estimated to have increased by about 30% to 40% and while the interception of the Afghani smack is never more than 10%. Punjab alone accounts for 60% of the country's drug recoveries: Just last year in a single recovery the state police caught siblings carrying close 50 kilograms, at an estimated value of 2.5 billion rupees (about US$46.4 million) in Phagwara district. 

The deterrence of three years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 rupees for violation of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act of 1940 has proved inadequate to curb the lure of immense black market profits from sale of these illicit substances, profits which helps explain the mushrooming of dozens of illegal chemist laboratories in almost all villages, even if no health clinic is present, that sell drugs without prescriptions to those who cannot afford heroin. 

With the successes of the "Green Revolution" and immigration to Western countries, an entire generation of educated or semi-educated youth are no longer interested in cultivating agrarian lands, and with no economic opportunities to absorb them they were easily drawn into vicious grip of narco-substances. 

An exploration of the Punjabi social fabric shows the deadly shadow of drugs has eclipsed the vibrancy once associated with high-spirited and sturdy youth of this wealthy state and threatens national and food security. Fear of the spread of the HIV virus and AIDS among drug abusers using syringes, associated with this abuse. 

Psychologist Jagpreet Kaur recalls the distraught parents of Jat Sikh, a drug-addicted son, 35 years of age, and sole inheritor of more than 35 acres of farm land in Amritsar district, who lies in dazed stupor all day, fails to recognize them and refuses to undergo substance abuse treatment. 

Surjit Singh of Modhae village relates how his friend Harkamaljit's drug habit drove him to consume about a dozen prescription tablets and cough syrups in a day and led to violent behavior when he was unable to obtain supplies. 

Residents in the border town of Taran Taran say that sometimesamlis (addicts), apparent from deep sunken eyes and skeletal frame, beg for money or have been caught trying to sell their blood to procure their daily dose of drugs. 

High school kids in the area revealed that drugs are easy to obtain outside schools and colleges or in villages, where some families sell drugs for an extra buck, $20 for 5 grams, and also supply a wild grass called bhuki that grows in the state. 

Dr Debasish Basu, of the Drug De-addiction Centre at Postgraduate Institute of Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research at Chandigarh, said that centers are not just ill-equipped but have been found to mint money by supplying contraband material in lieu of money or falsely promising de-addiction treatment using laser therapy. 

Of late there have been efforts to keep the youth away from anti-social activities and drugs as during a visit to Taran Taran, last July, one found villages in outskirts joining hands with charities to stage plays and train the youth in traditional sports and art forms such as gatka, a weapons-based martial art dating from the late 17th century. 

Punarjyot and Bir Khalsa Gatka Dal (gatka coaching academies) have had small successes to turn addicts off drugs and on to healthy pursuits, but the magnitude of problem requires concerted efforts through multiple strategies. 

As Punjab faces the loss an entire generation to killer drugs, it would appear high time for India to act on the warning bell that Rahul has rung loud and clear. The alternative is the grim fate of Maqboolpura in Amritsar. Once known for its affluence, drug abuse has claimed male members of almost every household, and it has now become a "widow village''.