On winning state assembly elections in March 2017, chief minister-designate Capt Amarinder Singh had claimed he would wipe out Punjab's drug problem "within four weeks".
Punjab
Syringe Ban : Health experts have welcomed the Punjab
government’s decision to reverse its recent ban on the sale of
syringes without a prescription. The ban had been an attempt to
control rampant drug abuse, but critics had said it would force
addicts to reuse and share syringes, causing a spurt in hepatitis B
and C and HIV infections, which are commonly transmitted among
intravenous drug users.
Public
health advocates are now calling for the state to ensure all private
and public health facilities adopt auto-disable (AD) syringes, which
are fitted with safety plungers that break off after a single use–to
ensure there is no reuse.
The
deputy commissioners of six districts of Punjab had on July 5, 2018,
banned over-the-counter sales of syringes at chemist shops and
pharmacies, as part of the state government’s renewed crackdown on
the use of heroin and other injectable narcotics.
In
June 2018 alone, the media had reported 23 deaths from drug overdose
in Punjab, placing pressure on the Congress-led state government to
curb drug abuse, which had been one of its key election promises.
On
winning state assembly elections in March 2017, chief
minister-designate Capt Amarinder Singh had claimed he would wipe out
Punjab’s
drug problem “within four weeks”. He had resolved to set up a
task force to work directly under the chief minister’s office. “The
STF will launch a crackdown against drug smugglers and small-time
suppliers. Psychiatrists would be appointed in drug rehabilitation
centres to provide treatment to addicts as they are only consumers,”
he was quoted as saying in the Hindustan Times on March 12, 2018.
Story By BS
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