Apart from drug de-addiction centers, rehabilitation through vocational training should be a part of the campaign to give new life to the youths

Various social organizations for the last one decade are crying that Sixth River of drugs is flowing in the state of Punjab and youth generation is becoming addicted to drugs but the government has not bothered on this important issue

The Punjab state borders touch the Rajasthan where the sale of opium and poppy husk is legal and international border with Pakistan. This is the main cause for the easy flow of the same to the areas in Punjab, making the local youth very susceptible to its use.

Now when the issue of drugs has been highlighted in the Lok Sabha elections and the people have shown their resentment against the ruling Akali-BJP parties and put on the border lines, the entire civil and police administration has swung into action by starting a special campaign against the drugs. It is a separate thing the police is only doing only on papers to conceal their shortcomings. Normally, every police official, if asked, will say, he is busy in campaign against drugs. Seminars, stage plays, rallies against drugs are being organized throughout the state whereas on the other hand legal system is being affected with the traffic jams at different places and increase in the crime of thefts etc.

Even in the government hospitals, the doctors now talk about the drug addicts and forgetting about the treatment or operation of common patients. The situation is such that the number of youths for drug de-addict are increasing in the government hospitals or drug de-addiction centres. But it definitely gives an indication that the drug addicts are not suffered a lot and now to come out of this web.

At the same time, the existing arrangements are not sufficient to deal with the number of drug-addicts. There is a need of drug de-addiction centres with proper availability of medicines apart from expert doctors to do the counseling as these would be beneficial for the addicts to give them a new life after rehabilitation.

Frankly, the campaign against drug de-addiction needs to make it a national campaign by making a concrete proposal by the Centre, not only for drug de-addiction of youths rather for their rehabilitation by giving them vocational trainings for self-employment with easy installments bank loans on low interest. Now the aim is not to make drug-free Punjab but to make drug-free nation. Had such initiatives been taken earlier, thousands of youths and families could be saved from ruining.

Without wasting any time, concrete steps may be taken against the drug de-addiction to have positive results in the coming days.