Numbers too big to ignore

INDIA has a problem. A recent study has found an inordinately large number of Indians addicted to various substances. While other drugs get more Press, it has been found that alcohol is the most widely used addictive substance. The widespread availability and increasing acceptability of social drinking could account for a large number of users, but it is worrying that 20 per cent of them are addicts. Besides alcohol, the other addictive substances used are cannabis, opioids, sedatives and inhalants.

Outrage, call to action, a police crackdown on some sellers, harsher laws — all these are knee-jerk reactions that follow any time there is information about addiction or of an instance of people dying due to bad, adulterated, substandard substances. It is debatable if any of these measures is a long-term solution, which lies in less quantifiable but more effective social intervention, support to the family and the addict, and so on. It all should start with a more humane treatment of the addict and an honest attempt at reformation. The horrible condition of so-called drug de-addiction centres and the inhuman treatment of patients admitted to such centres are often exposed in the media, and show what is wrong with our approach to this serious and debilitating problem. 

Punjab has the dubious distinction of being among the top five states for substance abuse across drug categories. The extent of the problem is known to everyone except, perhaps, the political class that maintains a blinkered vision on this matter. Indeed, allegations abound about the drug dealers’ network of sympathisers, nay, even collaborators, among those tasked to catch them. Such people need to be brought to book, and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. They corrode the moral fabric of the people and deserve no sympathy. Alcohol, the most widely used substance, is legally available in most parts of the country. Combating this addiction calls for a slew of calibrated responses that help the addict without the fear of ostracisation. Recognising the problem and acknowledging it is the first step; the rest will follow.