Punjab and menace of drugs

Just because we do not talk about a problem does not mean that the problem does not exist. We all know about poverty, dengue, rapes, corruption and such issues. But there exists one more problem which is eating the country hollow – drugs. A staggering 75% of Punjab’s youth is hooked to drug abuse, a figure the state government itself submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2009. One out of every three college students in the state is on drugs. This means that the most productive age group in the state, 18 to 35 years are unproductive.  If the road signs in rest of the country reads, ‘Do not drink and drive’, in Punjab it reads, ‘Don’t do drugs and drive.’

This is an extremely disturbing social evil and nothing is being done to resolve this menace. None of the political parties even talk about this epidemic. In fact it is said that many of the chemist shops are flourishing with the help of politicians and addicts rarely want to face the truth.  Political workers are said to have received bribes in the form of drugs during the political campaigning. This drug problem is blamed on Punjab’s poor economy, rising unemployment and sense of hopelessness.

One could think that Punjab has some of the richest farmers in India and yet, the economy is stagnating? Vast inequalities and growing urbanization are the culprits. And along with the growing drug addiction problem, there is also another menace – spurious de-addiction centers. Punjab has 98 private de-addiction centres; only 17 of these are duly registered. It is impossible to assess how many illegal ones exist as well.

Almost every single Hindi movie depicts Punjabis and Punjab as the next best human evolution but strangely, not a single movie deals with this? Sad state of affairs indeed.