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To end drugs, come out of denial first

The long-standing problem of drug abuse in Punjab has suddenly shot into prominence as a result of censor controversy.

To end drugs, come out of denial first

School students taking part in an anti-drug campaign at Khalsa College in Amritsar. Tribune file photo



S.Y. Quraishi

The long-standing problem of drug abuse in Punjab has suddenly shot into prominence as a result of censor controversy. The Central Board of Film Certification has done the country a favour (of course, unwittingly) by drawing attention to a problem that has the potential of eating into the vitals of the nation.

Whether the film had a happy ending or not, the controversy indeed did, with egg on the face of some people, that too from no less than the Mumbai High Court. The Punjab and Haryana High Court sounded the final death knell for the board’s objections.

Instead of dwelling on the censor issue, I would like to highlight the drug problem itself. I have had recurrent exposure to the problem over three decades, culminating in my tenure in the Election Commission when during the course of various elections we kept coming across distribution of alcohol and drugs.

What we saw in Punjab in the 2012 elections was enough to give us sleepless nights. We kept a tight vigil on electoral malpractices, including distribution of liquor and drugs. A strict regulatory mechanism was put in place with directions to all agencies to check infiltration of drugs into the electoral fray. The Narcotics Control Bureau was made the coordinating agency, while the BSF was asked to seal the international border to keep out heroin and other hard drugs. A central election cell with a control room was set up in the Punjab Police Headquarters under an IG.

During the course of our brief but determined battle to deliver the constitutional mandate of free and fair elections, we came across many startling facts on the range and quantum of drugs. There was hardly any psychotropic substance that was not in circulation. Our machinery seized 53.5 kg heroin, 435 kg poppy husk, besides a large quantity of medicines containing psychotropic substances in just one month (January 4-February 6). After the election I felt compelled to write a letter to the Prime Minister to bring the gravity of the problem to his notice — something the ECI rarely does after any election.

Here is an excerpt from what I wrote:

“Our feedback reinforces several media and research findings that Punjab has emerged as a hub of drug trafficking due to its proximity to the golden crescent and 40 per cent of the highly potent drugs are transiting through the state to destinations as far as Europe and North America.

“The districts of Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur, Muktsar and Ferozepur, on the borders of Rajasthan and Haryana, are the worst affected. What is more disconcerting is that the menace is ruining the health, well-being and the future of the youth in Punjab, who fall prey to free supply of these substances as inducement during the polls. The problem has the potential to spread... to other parts of the country as well.”

It may be noted that no party was singled out in the message, as the problem touched all. Politicising the issue sidetracks the real problem. And the media joining the game also compounds the issue. It is a matter of concern that for short-term electoral and political gains, long-term national consequences are disregarded.

My exposure to the problem over three decades has convinced me that the biggest challenge is denial, which starts at home and extends as a national trait. When a friendly neighbour mentions to a parent that their child was seen in the company of a drug addict, s/he is snubbed. “My child is innocent and can never do that; you must be jealous!” There are stories galore of the ‘innocent’ child soon turning a big-time addict. And this is not just a familial response but of society as well. I learnt my lesson early.

As a nodal officer of the Ministry of Social Welfare (1983-85), our standard reply to several Parliament questions was that in India even socially acceptable habits like tobacco and alcohol are not very common. I was party to it till a chance visit to a de-addiction camp in Delhi’s GB Pant Hospital. The situation I saw was shocking; we had been fooling ourselves, and the country.

There was a calling-attention motion on the subject. The MoS, Finance, called a briefing. After all bigwigs of the enforcement agencies had parroted the same untruth, I was asked to give my version. When I asked the minister if he wanted to hear the truth, he was shocked at the audacity of a young deputy secretary. I told him that we were sitting on dynamite and must come out of the denial mode and take Parliament and the country into confidence. 

It was my turn to be surprised. The minister tore off the briefing notes of others and decided to take the bull by the horns. Admitting that there was indeed a serious problem, he asked all MPs to combat the challenge collectively. We then had a de-addiction camp organised, during the Parliament session, in Kanjhawala village by Narayan Singh Manaklao of Jodhpur (later Padma Bhushan and Rajya Sabha MP), who had been running successful opium de-addiction camps in Rajasthan. All MPs and media were invited, even if they wanted to criticise.

What did we learn? Our standard  answer was based on certain academic studies that even socially acceptable drugs were not common and that India was just a “transit” country between the “golden crescent” ( Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan) and the “golden triangle” (Myanmar, Thailand and Laos). We ‘innocently’ presumed that drugs entered from one door and left through the other.

The reality is that a transit country becomes a user in no time. How does it happen? The drug mafia always needs safe carriers and pedlars, and a drug addict is a natural choice. An addict without his daily dose is like fish out of water. He would do anything to get his dose. A free dose, therefore, is the best inducement to hook a potential pedlar, who starts with unsuspecting peers and graduates to bigger operations as a carrier or smuggler.

We also learnt later that militancy and terrorism were increasingly funded by drug lords. It is no surprise that the drug connection in the recent Pathankot terror attack has not been ruled out.

In the 1990s, I was posted in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. We observed that youth being curious and adventurous risk takers were the most vulnerable. On college campuses, besides the drug problem, there was the menace of HIV/AIDS, and the two were linked. Addicts soon start taking drugs by means of injection, and the sharing of needles spreads HIV. 

We were able to effectively use student volunteers of the National Service Scheme (NSS) to create “drug-free campuses” and later launch an HIV awareness programme called Universities Talk AIDS. At a time when even talking about AIDS was taboo, our NSS inspired campuses were throwing up solutions. The movement was entirely youth driven, including the name. They themselves designed the communication materials, including the slogan “Darna nahin, samajhna hoga” (understanding, not fear, is the answer). It captured the essence of the problem better than experts.

India’s response to drugs and AIDS is a study in contrast. In the latter case, we came out of the denial mode well in time. Our national response was to set up the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) in 1992 (which also I headed in 2004-5). The AIDS problem had surfaced in the world in the late 1980s. In two decades, when South Africa had 23 per cent of its population HIV-affected and Botswana 38 per cent, India was only 0.5 per cent — all because of early abandoning of denial. That’s the lesson we must adopt.

The moral of the story is clear: Stop denying. Stop the blame game. Don’t politicise. Deal with the menace collectively with all your might, and save the state and the country.


The writer is a former Chief Election Commissioner of India

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