Drugs rampant in Sirsa, but not an election issue

SIRSA: In the din of political campaign, as almost every political party in Sirsa parliamentary constituency seeks votes in the name of its leaders, caste/clan and connections/clout or by approaching Dera Sacha Sauda , nobody has raked up the issue of drug addiction that has assumed alarming proportions in this border district in recent years.

According to the data procured by TOI from district health authorities, around 1,405 cases of drug abuse were reported for treatment in 2014. Four years later, the numbers rose to 18,551 in 2018. Of these, 650 were indoor patients.

The inflow of narcotics is rampant in the district as it shares boundaries with two states including Punjab and Rajasthan .

The most dangerous trend that is emerging is shifting of people from natural drugs to synthetic drugs. In the past around four months, the district police seized around 1.62 lakh tablets and 77,000 capsules of pharmaceutical drug. This number, according to police, is three times higher than the previous recoveries made in that period.

The data also reveals that initially people in the 25-30 age group got into drug abuse, but now most cases have been found among the youngsters in the age group of 15-20 years. Officials dealing with drug addicts at de-addiction centres opine that even though the inflow of narcotics may be from Punjab, counselling sessions reveal that synthetic drug is supplied to them from Delhi.

Dr Pankaj Sharma, a psychiatrist at a government drug de-addiction centre in Sirsa, told TOI that at present they are attending around 100 OPDs every day. “A dangerous trend emerging during treatment of patients is that people are shifting from natural drugs like opium, ganja and related products to synthetic drugs, which has more addictive potential,” he said.

It has also been during counselling of drug addicts that opium, which used to be available for Rs 5,000-6,000 per gram, is now available at the rate of Rs 1,000-1,500/g, he added.

“Another problem is that peddlers have started giving small dose of drug, which even a rickshaw-puller, a student and people from lower strata can afford by spending their daily savings. Also, drug users are entering into drug peddling as ‘semi-peddlers’, so that they can purchase drug for themselves from the commission,” he said.

However, officials at the drug-de-addiction centre claimed that cultural shifting is one of the factors behind an increasing number of youngsters getting into drug abuse. “Influence of music which contains lots of violence, instigating songs, violent videos, especially from Punjabi albums and ignorance of children by parents, easy availability of drugs, cheap drugs are some of the factors,” said an official.

Despite the rampant use of drugs, no candidate contesting the Lok Sabha elections is discussing the issue — not in their manifesto not in their election speeches.

When contacted, Charanjit Singh Rori, the outgoing MP from Sirsa, blamed the administration for failing to stop the supply chain of drugs, which is mainly from Dabwali, Ellenabad, Tohana and Kalanwali areas that share borders with Punjab. All the same, he admitted that he has not made it a poll issue.

Congress candidate from Sirsa, Ashok Tanwar also accepted the problem of drugs in the district but said it was the ruling party’s responsibility to deal with it with an iron hand.

Sirsa superintendent of police Dr Arun Singh said the recovery of synthetic drugs like tablets and capsules in the past four months was three times more than the recovery last year. “We have adopted zero tolerance against drugs and are adopting ‘Awareness, Cooperation and Execution’ style of working to deal with the problem. Besides, efforts to stop the supply chain and special camps are also being organized to make the police make people aware of the problem,” he added.

Considering the high number of patients, the Sirsa superintendent of police’s office was recently renovated the government as drug-de-addiction centre so that addicts could be provided better facilities and conducive environment during the treatment.