Punjab’s Drug Menace: Easy Access to Poison Without a Prescription

Despite the occasional judicial intervention, little has changed as far as the drug problem of Punjab is concerned.

Outsiders visiting Punjab villages may be taken aback by the disproportionately large number of chemist shops and may get the impression that the local population is sick and in need of medicines. They may be in for another shock if they hear that several of these villages, or even clusters of villages, do not even have a qualified doctor.

The contradiction points to the extent of the drug menace in the state, particularly in rural areas. The pharmaceutical shops sell drugs, which are much cheaper than other variants and often do not need, or are otherwise given without a prescription.

No empirical study has so far been done in Punjab to establish the extent of drug addiction in the state but there is near unanimity on the view that its tentacles have spread far and wide. Victims are generally the youth and there are several mitigating reasons for the tragedy striking one of the country’s progressive states.

Drug Smuggling From Across the Border

One of the major causes, undoubtedly, is the rampant drug smuggling from across the border. Many are not in a position to afford the highly priced drugs smuggled through the state daily and they are the ones falling prey to the chemical based drugs which are easily available and are cheap. Besides, the addicts have been using cough syrups and other such easily available ‘medicines’ to get their fix.

The Border Security Force (BSF), in a recent report submitted to the Union Home Ministry, has pointed out that, “Synthetic drugs are freely available in border areas of Punjab. These can be purchased from chemists or local vendors.”

The BSF had also given a copy of the report to the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had taken up the issue suo motu and is also hearing a bunch of petitions on the issue of drug addiction.

Drug Addiction Across Punjab

• Villages in Punjab today harbour a large number of chemist shops though there may not be a single qualified doctor available in the vicinity.
  
• Those who can’t afford the highly priced smuggled drugs fall prey to the locally made chemical-based drugs that are cheap and easily available.
  
• Chemists tend to end up at loggerheads with the state government on grounds of legal jurisdiction, making the task of enforcement agencies difficult.
  
• Courts now and then point to the perils of drug addiction that spur state police into immediate action without any significant impact.
  

Judicial Intervention

In fact, way back in 2013, hearing a public interest petition on mushrooming illegal chemist shops in the villages of Punjab and the selling of drugs over the counters, the high court had directed the Punjab health secretary to investigate and submit a report. A division bench comprising the then acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain had asked the government to direct the concerned drug inspectors to inspect chemist shops and check their licences, as easy access to drugs had become a menace in villages.

“The court has observed that many chemist shops run without licence. What have you done? Who is responsible to check this?” the court asked the Punjab counsel. “In a village there may not be a doctor but there are 10 chemist shops. They are into selling illegal drugs across Punjab and ruining young lives,” the court had observed.

Subsequently, several raids were conducted which even led to a one-day protest by the Punjab Chemists Association, which claims to represent nearly 32,000 chemists in the state, in June 2014. The protest was against police raids on chemist shops during the anti-drug drive undertaken by the state government. Calling the raids “illegal”, the chemists argued that they came under the purview of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, and not under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The Association’s argument was that a policeman was not qualified to test the composition of a chemical substance without any expertise in the field. It also pointed out that there was provision for permission from the Drug Authority of India to store drugs, including proxyvon, fortvin injections, lomotil tablets, nitrazepam, codeine syrups and norphin.

Drug Addiction

Speaking at a function in 2007, former Chief Justice Vijender Jain said, “In the villages, the chemist shops which are meant to be the lifeline for the villagers are a major source of illegal drugs. There is a major need to control the illegal sale of medicines. The chemists do not ask for a prescription, and they do not keep any inventory of the drugs sold. They even sell the medicine in bulk to individuals without any doctor’s prescription.”

Quoting a study, he said that the “poor are moving towards cheap tablets, available at every drug store and from the quacks in the neighbourhood. The offspring of the rich are trying smack in the cities where they are sent for studies by their parents. Every third male and every 10th female student in the state has had drugs on one occasion or the other.”

What he pointed out eight years ago appears to be true even today. Hearing a drug-related case last week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court said that it had come to its notice that drug-laced ‘special paranthas’ were being served outside several colleges in Chandigarh. The next day the police swung into action and seized some such paranthas. Evidently much more needs to be done than undertake periodic raids at the directive of the courts.

(The writer is a Chandigarh-based senior journalist.)

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