OPINION: Only war-footing fight against drugs could save youths;

It is never too late 

Punjab chief minister Sukhbir Badal’s message on 64th Republic Day function to the parents to play crucial role in Punjab’s crusade against drugs has confirmed what Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said during his visit to Punjab in October, 2012 that Seven out of 10 youth in Punjab have drug problems.

Merely saying that I have ordered the police to throw behind bars whoever are caught smuggling drugs would not suffice; there is a need to educate the youths of Punjab the pros and cons of use of drugs which ruins the whole of the family.

Youths, who are termed as the future of the nation and in case the special campaign is not launched to curb drugs menace, the comings years are likely to be dark for India ’s development. 

Drug addiction is a problem that has been increasing immensely among our society today. Drug addictions can only hinder or restrain us from accomplishing goals or dreams in life. People sometimes feel they are too bright, too powerful, too much in control to become addictive. Addiction can trap anyone. It can lead to harming one’s body, causing problems in family structure, and contribute to the delinquency in society. Drug abuse often leads to crime as a result of reduced impulse control, paranoia and negligence. Thus, affects the law and order, economic production and human welfare. 

More than 80 per cent heroine addicts in India are in the age – group of 12-25 years. The abuse of drugs has been found mostly in the urban centers of our country.   Taking of drugs is a great evil. A number of causes are responsible for the evil. In many homes, growing boys and girls do not get the love, care and attention which they should receive at this tender age. Often both the father and the mother are in service and consequently have no time to look after their children. In other cases, the husband and the wife are not on good terms with each other. They often quarrel, the quarrels increase in intensity and violence, and life in the home becomes most unhappy and unpleasant. Such quarrels may lead even to divorce and the breaking up of the family. In still other cases, the father remains too busy in his own social life, to look after the children. The result is that young people in such homes feel lonely and neglected. They feel frustrated. Deprived totally of parental love and affection, they seek consolation elsewhere. They go astray. Their so called friends, who are themselves drug-addicts, mislead them and induce them, at least, to have a taste of it. The drug-sellers fully exploit them. Drugs are in the beginning provided to them quite cheap, but the price goes on increasing as this evil habit takes hold of them and they can no longer do without drugs. 

The across the border smuggling of heroin and other intoxicants is a matter of grave concern which is playing havoc with the lives of the Punjabi youth.  The government must take concrete steps to check the infiltration of drugs through the borders, which were manned by its agencies. The borders were open in a major part of the world but there was a check on the drug trafficking in those countries due to the vigilant security agencies which needed to be replicated in India.

Besides, a viable proposal for delegating the powers to the Drug Inspectors, SMOs to raid and take action against the Chemist shops involved in illegal selling of drugs, has to be formulated.

Total eradication of the evil is the urgent need of the hour, and fight against it must be undertaken on a war-footing and on a number of fronts. public opinion must be created against it and the different media of mass communication-the press, the radio, the television, the cinema, the public platform and the class room-must be pressed into service to combat the evil. In this way the people more particularly the youth, must be made aware of the evil consequences of this habit.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of City Air News.)