Chandigarh, June 3
The rampant drug trade and an alarming rise in addiction in large parts of Punjab, as highlighted by The Tribune in a series of reports, today prompted Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to announce several steps to stem the rot.

The CM today met senior health department officers as well as principals of government medical colleges and sought to draw a road map to tackle the problem down to the village level.

He asked the authorities to provide free distribution of medicines to the addicts being treated as outdoor patients at government-run hospitals, community health centres besides the three medical colleges at Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot.

Grim state of affairs on the drugs front at district level Moga No full-fledged govt-aided center despite a large number of addicts The centre being run in the district hospital caters to OPD facilities only. The centre run by the Red Cross Society at Janer village can admit only 15 patients. After having been physically and mentally tortured in the name of de-addiction, 20 youths had fled the illegal confinement of drug de-addiction centre at Charik village on May 20. Sangrur It has 3 de-addiction and two rehab centres. The 15-bed Red Cross centre has enough staff, including a part-time doctor, psychologist, a social worker, a staff nurse and a ward boy. The centre runs with the annual grant of Rs 6.82 lakh, provided by Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The centre, however, hasn't got grant for the year 2013-14 and 2014-15. Gurdaspur Has a 30-bed Red Cross de-addiction centre which is overflowing with addicts, many of them 'victims' of the intense anti-drug drive. The Civil Hospital doesn't have the infrastructure. The 10-bed centre at Babri village is 6km from the district. Ludhiana Only 3 private de-addiction centers. Licence of some centres were suspended. Amritsar Only one govt-run centre, the second one is run by SGPC. There are two more recognized centres. Most centres lack staff and funds Patiala 5 govt-run rehab centres are functioning, but there is only one for treatment. The 30-bed Red Cross-run Saket centre offers treatment with the help of counselors Majority of addicts are 16-35 years of age Govt Rajindra Hospital hardly has any indoor patient admission. Most private centres charge hefty treatment fee Jalandhar The centre being run by the ESI Hospital is the sole such government facility. A model centre is under construction. Some patients are being treated by the OST (Opioid Substitution Therapy) Centre and the psychiatrist at the civil hospital. OST centres also run at Nakodar and Phillaur Bathinda The centre funded by Union government is on the verge of closure. The civil hospital de-addiction centre runs on funds provided by Guru Gobind Singh Refinery With inputs from Kulwinder Sandhu (Moga), Sushil Goyal (Sangrur), Ravi Dhaliwal (Gurdaspur), Manav Mander(Ludhiana), P.K. Jaiswar (Amritsar), Gagan K. Teja (Amritsar), Aparna Banerjee (Jalandhar) and Sukhmeet Bhasin (Bathinda) What needs to be done Funds and staff Allocate more funds. Deploy competent staff at rehabilitation centres and at the level of policing and supervision to thwart illegal sale of prescription drugs Plug the source Go after big fish at both national and international level Jobs Speed up gainful employment. This will discourage youth to fall into depression, and finally, into addiction Enterprise Encourage entrepreneurship at micro level. Arrange financing Therapy Oral substitute therapy offered by the Department of AIDS Control Social acceptance Convince an addict that he will be all right and be accepted back into society

Badal asked the authorities to launch a vigorous mass awareness campaign aimed at the youth. He told Principal Secretary Health Vinni Mahajan to get onboard experts and eminent psychiatrists to educate the addicts.

The CM said there was a need to form a committee involving de-addiction, social security, medical and police officers at all district headquarters. These committees would be overseen by a central committee, headed by the Principal Secretary Health, and comprising Director State Narcotics Cell, senior health department officials and eminent psychiatrists as members. These panels would regularly update the Chief Minister.

On its part, the state police have come out with a four-tier strategy: a) crack down to dry up the supply b) eliminate the smuggler-peddler nexus c) smash street-level network of peddlers d) look into the international angle with the help of the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the BSF.

The strategy of the Punjab Police Border Zone Inspector General Ishwar Chander is bearing fruits: 670 ‘retailers’ and peddlers have been arrested during last fortnight. The state police, too, have come out with a State Narcotics Bureau, headed by senior IPS officer Ishwar Singh.

In the last two weeks, the state police have arrested 3,197 drug peddlers or ‘retailers’ and has started preparing lists of the ‘big fish.’ As per Narcotics Control Bureau figures, the abuse of synthetic drugs is 3.5 times higher in Punjab than the national average.

Badal said panchayats were required to play a crucial role in sustaining the tempo of de-addiction, especially, social support. He asked the jail authorities to treat drug addicts as indoor patients so that they could lead a normal life after treatment.

Experts, psychiatrists and the police have long been calling for harsher measures in a state that lacks the wherewithal to treat addicts lining up ill-equipped de-addiction centres.

For instance, the office of the State Drug Controller Ajay Singla is grappling with staff shortage as only two Additional Drug Controllers and 10 Zonal Licensing Authorities or senior inspectors are supposed to tackle illegal sale of prescription and other drugs.

“The biggest problem in case of each of the Red Cross-run centre is funds shortage. For a 15-member staff, each such centre has received a paltry monthly grant of Rs. 73,000,” said Dr. Romesh Mahajan, Project Director of the Gurdaspur-based Red Cross centre.

Field surveys carried out by The Tribune revealed the number of de-addiction centre is not enough to treat an army of addicts following the government crackdown. Punjab has only 12 fully functional de-addiction centres and as many as five fully or partly functional Model De-addiction centres at Bathinda, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala.

“A dozen of the 14 newly set-up de-addiction centres have just been commissioned,” said Dr. Karanjit Singh, the Punjab Director, Health Services (DHS). Talking about the solutions to the vexed problem, the Punjab Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Hardip Dhillon said, “The best solution is to plug the source of drug supply. De-addiction, rehabilitation and subsequent strong social support are factors that can play a major role.”

The social aspect is that the young boys no longer want to adapt themselves to employment-oriented short term courses. “No youngster wants to be a mason anymore,” he said.

Dr Rajeev Gupta, a Ludhiana-based psychiatrist, said what has contributed to the problem was the sky-rocketing prices of land in the aftermath of militancy. “Neo-rich youngsters have no employment avenues. At the same time they have money generated from land. So, they involve youngsters from weaker sections,” said Dr Gupta.

NCB Zonal Director Kaustabh Sharma says the best solution to prevent addicts from relapsing is to put them on the oral substitute therapy offered by the Department of AIDS Control.

“The therapy is the best solution. If introduced in a big way in Punjab, it can kill the demand for drugs,” he said.

“Village-level committees comprising sarpanch, patwari, social worker, and a health worker could identify addicts. Block level and sub-division level committees could also be helpful,” said Dr Romesh Mahajan.