Introduction
The issue of drug abuse in the north Indian state of Punjab has been receiving increasing attention both in the Indian and International media. The use of recreational drugs as self prescribed pain medications has is not a new phenomenon, but over past two decades, the problem has infested itself as a silent epidemic in the entire region engulfing an entire generation of young people. The failure to control drug-peddling activity and the callous nature of drug enforcement authorities has given it a shape of a public health crisis.
The state of Punjab, lies in northwestern India, sharing a border of 461 km with Pakistan on the west. The geographical proximity to Afghanistan, inducts it into the areas known as the Golden Crescent by Interpol, for its Illicit Opium peddling from the country through Pakistan, into India. The flat Indus plains and rivers passing through the international border makes it a suitable geography for drug smuggling.
Within the state, the districts that line the International border are believed to be the most affected by this epidemic. Among the worst hit districts are Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Sri Mukatsar Sahib, Fazilka. As per the report Narcotics Control Bureau, the nodal agency for drug enforcement in India, a total of 77,433 kg drugs were seized in 2014 from Punjab sector alone. It is believed that the seizure consists of only 30% of total drugs peddled into India via the international border. The Punjab Opioid Dependence Survey, which was conducted between February and April 2015 conducted by a private organization in collaboration with Drug Dependence Treatment Center at AIIMS, New Delhi , found that 230,000 people in the state were drug users. The survey relies on a highly vague Respondent Driven Sampling with multiplier technique methodology, using a non standardized questionnaire for a small sample size of 3620. The results from this survey detected the state to have 836 drug users per 100,000 people in the state. In comparison the national average is comparatively lower at 250 per 100,000 (for 2012), according to the ministry of social justice and empowerment, Government of India.