CM writes to Modi, seeks national policy on drugs

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 2

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has reiterated his demand for a national policy to tackle drug abuse. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, Capt Amarinder urged him to advise the ministries of Home and Social Justice and Empowerment to address the issue.

“This important issue needs to be addressed with a little more seriousness than it has received so far,” he wrote, according to an official statement released here.

The CM sought Modi’s personal intervention for the formulation of a national policy focusing on three components — enforcement, de-addiction and prevention — to tackle the menace of drug abuse in the country.

He said a national policy would enable all states to follow a similar, if not the same, approach on drug abuse, which, he said, “has substantially hampered the health of the people, particularly the youth”.

The CM expressed his state’s willingness to associate with the officers concerned of the Centre not only to evolve the policy, but also to put in place an effective mechanism for its implementation.

Besides, the CM also raised security concerns emerging out of narco-terrorism, saying these were rather grave in context of Punjab, which shares a 553-km border with Pakistan.