All signs and surveys conducted in Punjab in the past few years endorse the sad reality of ‘Udta Punjab’: an AIIMS survey earlier this year put Punjab among the top five states with the highest prevalence of substance abuse across drug categories; the AIIMS-assisted drug survey in 2016 claimed that Rs 20-crore worth drugs were consumed daily in the state. This thriving drug smuggling industry points to a peddler-police-politician nexus, even as some big names are suspected of involvement off and on. But woefully, the nexus is so powerful that both the earlier SAD-BJP government and the present Congress regime have been unable to break it despite exhortations towards breaking the menace. The sad consequence is that the scourge of drug abuse refuses to abate, incurring huge social and human cost over the years and ruining thousands of affected families. It is feared that 65 per cent of the youth (15 to 20 year olds) are getting hooked to narcotics as they are supplied drugs with impunity.

The record haul of 532 kg of heroin from the Attari border in June this year was a double shocker. One, it indicated the enormous scale of the illegal market for intoxicants. Secondly, the arrest of two police officials in the case though blew the lid off the noxious police-peddler cartel, their death in custody soon after — one under mysterious circumstances and the other by suicide — helped the kingpin escape the law’s arm.

Ever since the state stepped up efforts to contain the menace about seven years ago, around 150 policemen have been arrested for drug peddling. ASI Renu Bala, who reportedly leads a lavish lifestyle, is the latest one to be nabbed from Patti with 50 gram heroin. However, till such arrests of petty peddlers lead to a breakthrough and catching of the big fish, the drug business will continue to flourish. A braveheart is needed to lift the veil of secrecy that is till now protecting the political patrons of the drug mafia. Until the drug patrons are traced and punished, wailing mothers will tragically wish death for their poor children entrapped in this vicious circle. There can’t be a sorrier state.