Punjab Govt to launch phase-II of anti-drug drive

The state government is all set to start the second phase of the Yudh Nashian Virudh campaign with the primary focus on improving drug de-addiction centres and rehabilitation of addicts.

With the government claiming that the supply chain of drugs, mainly heroin, has been successfully broken in the first phase of the three-month campaign, which ended in May, the focus in the second phase will be on strengthening the drug de-addiction centres.

The government is also framing rules that bar any entity or individual from owning and operating more than five drug de-addiction centres. This is being done to stop these centres from indulging in malpractices. The rules have been framed by the Health Department and are now being legally vetted before being implemented.

Sources in the Health Department said even for the entities already running multiple private drug de-addiction centres, their licences would be renewed only for five centres. The licences are re-issued every three years. These centres could be run in public-private partnership mode.

There are 177 private drug de-addiction centres in the state, of which 117 are run by just 10 entities. Two entities run over 20 centres each. In January this year, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau had suggested that the state government should look into the conditions to run a drug de-addiction centre to avoid any manipulation.

The government would also monitor the supply of buprenorphine tablets in the open market. Some of the entities running de-addiction centres have been accused of illicitly supplying buprenorphine in the open market at high prices.