Page 3 - Tehelka Issue 14E

Editor’s Note

Drugs & Deaths: Tokenism can only win

brownie points, not war against drugs

IT HAS TAKEN 18 long months for Drugs and Psychotropic Substances suggests that of all
the Punjab Chief Minister Captain cases registered across the country over 30 per cent are
Amarinder Singh to finally launch from Punjab alone.
his much-hyped battle against A problem of this magnitude requires a national war
drugs when alarming number of against the menace. Drug mafia exists because they
deaths due to overdose of drugs enjoy political patronage and a large number of police
jolted the nation. He has ordered personnel have been found to be actively involved in
mandatory drug tests for government this illegal trade. However, an overwhelming major-
employees numbering about 3.25 lakh in- ity of those arrested under the NDPS Act are addicts
cluding the police. The Cabinet has also decided to rec- caught with small quantities of drugs. They are mere
ommend death penalty to drug-peddlers by amending pawns for drug mafias. There is a need to identify the
NDPS Act. It is a common knowledge that drugs enter real causes of drug addiction and why youths are fall-
Punjab from the Golden Crescent (Iran, Afghanistan, ing preys and taking to drugs in such large numbers.
Pakistan) through the 553-km porous border and Should not the law enforcement agencies tackle the
make their way to the rest of the country. This makes drug mafias with all their might.
it a national problem and a serious security threat. This The stakeholders need to find out if our edu -
requires a concerted battle against drugs and commu- cation system that is bereft of hopes of an as -
nity involvement to find the root cause of this menace. sured future and employment needs to be over -
Steps like compulsory dope test and death penalty hauled? The authorities need to study if the youth
for drug dealers may sound deterrent but do not guar- is drifting to escapism by taking to drugs? Some
antee a win over drugs. World over death penalty has villages have taken upon themselves the task of
almost been abolished and is reserved for the rarest of fighting out drug peddlers by nabbing them and
the rare crimes. Little doubt such steps appear to be a handing them over to the police. Here the government
piece of tokenism because of the enormity of the prob- needs to see if this would not turn out to be another
lem with estimates pointing out that there is a drug ad- form of dreaded vigilantism?
dict in every two-thirds of households in Punjab. It is
not that drug addicts and dealers are not being arrested.
Last year alone 18,977 peddlers were arrested and
sent to jails. Data from the National Crime Records Bu-
reau pertaining to cases registered under the Narcotic (CHARANJIT AHUJA)

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VOLUME 15, ISSUE NO. 14, 16-31 JULY 2018, RELEASED ON 16 JULY, NUMBER OF PAGES INCLUDING COVER 68
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