Punjab CM Amarinder Singh said the prices of heroine and ‘chitta’ have gone up five to six times after our crackdown on drugs. (File)
Breaking his silence on a spate deaths due to suspected overdose of drugs in the past one week, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Thursday said shortage of heroine and ‘chitta’ after crackdown by the government was leading youths to intravenously take drugs prescribed for de-addiction.
Facing criticism from initiators of Black Week against Chitta campaign for not reacting on the overdose deaths, Amarinder, while speaking at a function, said, “We will ensure these drugs were given under the supervision of doctors only.” According to Punjab-based government psychiatrists, they are not giving opioid-based pain killers including Bupronorphine or Tramadol to the patients to carry them home. “Tramadol drug is available in the market under prescription. But Bupronorphine is a psychotropic drug which is restricted to drug de-addiction and OAAT centres,” said Dr Sandeep Bhola, a psychiatrist at Kapurthala Civil Hospital.
The CM said, “The prices of heroine and ‘chitta’ have gone up five to six times after our crackdown on drugs. We have put 18,800 peddlers behind bars. We are going after their kingpin also. One of them is in a Hong Kong jail. We are trying to get him extradited,” he said.
“It is not just the government’s job to get the children de-addicted. Police can send the peddlers to jails. We have set up de-addiction centres. To bring children to the de-addiction centres, it is your job, my job and a collective job. Each and every Punjabi should take responsibility of his children because it is one’s own responsibility,” he said.
“Poor children are hooked to drugs. They are naïve. Doctors give them pills and they inject those after making concoctions with water,” the CM said. In response to a question about the social media campaign, the CM said, “Khaira [LOP Sukhpal Singh Khaira] must be behind it.”
“Khaira also attempts to secure political and personal gains by raising the bogey of drugs. The AAP leader evidently likes seeing his pictures in newspapers and on TV screens. The government is well on way to eliminating the drugs menace and the smugglers were under immense pressure,” he said.