Capt writes to PM, calls for policy to tackle drug menace
Monday, 03/06/2019
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CHANDIGARH: Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has reiterated his demand for a national policy to tackle drug abuse. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, the CM has urged him to advise the ministries of home, social justice and empowerment and health and family welfare to address the important issue.
Last year too, the CM had written to the PM on the issue in the first term of the NDA government.
The CM sought PM’s personal intervention for the formulation of a national policy on all three components – enforcement, de-addiction and prevention — of drug abuse in the country.
Amarinder also expressed Punjab’s willingness to associate with the officers concerned of the Centre not only to evolve the policy, but also to put in place an effective mechanism for its implementation in the larger national interest.
The CM also raised security concerns emerging out of narcoterrorism, saying these were rather grave in the context of Punjab, which shares a 553-km border with Pakistan.
Referring to a survey report, “Magnitude of Substance Abuse in India”, released in February 2019 by the ministry of social justice and empowerment in collaboration with National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, AIIMS, Amarinder said: “Drug abuse in India is a significant problem and multi-pronged and coordinated policy interventions are required to tackle it effectively.”
In his letter, Amarinder touched upon several steps which his government has taken during the past two years to check the drug menace and to expand its outreach at the grassroots to make towns and villages “drugfree”.
Amarinder also sought liberal financial support from the Centre to increase and strengthen the Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) clinics in Punjab, currently being run on meagre state resources.
