Making Punjab's Youth Dependent on Medication Instead of Drug-Free Is the Biggest Failure of the 'Yudh Nashian Virudh' Campaign: Kainth
CHANDIGARH: Paramjit Singh Kainth, Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Party Scheduled Caste Morcha, Punjab, has described the 129th Report of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha's Committee on Public Undertakings as a document exposing the real picture behind the Bhagwant Mann Government's anti-drug campaign. He said the government's advertisements tell one story, while the Legislative Assembly's own report reveals an entirely different reality.
Kainth said that if the government has had to distribute 5.648 billion (56.48 crore) buprenorphine tablets over the last four-and-a-half years, 3.17 lakh patients, mostly young people, are still dependent on medication, and the supply of buprenorphine tablets to Punjab's jails has increased from 117 million (1.17 crore) tablets to 887 million (8.87 crore) tablets, then the government must explain where exactly drug abuse has been eliminated.
He said the Aam Aadmi Party government continues to claim victory in its war against drugs, but the Legislative Assembly Committee's report clearly establishes that the drug crisis remains deep-rooted. The government has failed to disclose how many young people have become completely drug-free, how many have successfully returned to normal life, and how many continue to survive on medication-assisted treatment.
Kainth further said that the most alarming revelation is that Health Department officials were unable to explain before the Legislative Assembly Committee how buprenorphine tablets were reaching illegal de-addiction centres. According to him, this demonstrates that the government has failed to control both the pharmaceutical supply chain and the illegal network operating around de-addiction medicines.
He said that the 'Yudh Nashian Virudh' campaign has been reduced to nothing more than a publicity exercise. Had the government genuinely succeeded in its fight against drugs, Punjab would not have required billions of buprenorphine tablets, nor would the demand for these medicines inside prisons have increased several-fold.
Paramjit Singh Kainth demanded that the Bhagwant Mann Government immediately issue a White Paper before the people of Punjab and clearly answer the following questions:
After distributing 5.648 billion buprenorphine tablets, how many patients have become completely drug-free?
How many patients are still dependent on buprenorphine?
What is the actual relapse rate among treated patients?
Why has the demand for buprenorphine inside Punjab's prisons increased by more than seven times?
Who is supplying buprenorphine tablets to illegal de-addiction centres, and under whose patronage are they operating?
Kainth said, "The people of Punjab will no longer judge this government by advertisements but by measurable outcomes. A drug-free Punjab cannot mean replacing one dependency with another. The Bhagwant Mann Government must stop political propaganda and instead guarantee genuine rehabilitation, complete recovery, and meaningful employment opportunities for Punjab's youth. The people of Punjab will certainly demand accountability for this experiment being conducted on an entire generation."
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