Punjab politicians renew demand for legalising opium sale, say ‘it’s part of our culture’

On the other hand, he said the youth were getting hooked on various harmful drugs like chitta and others.
Former Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi – who had in 2016 even moved a private member’s bill in Parliament seeking to decriminalise opium, marijuana and poppy husk and amend the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 – said legalising the sale of such substances can finish the mafia completely. “It will cut the ground from under their feet,” Dharamvira Gandhi told The Indian Express. “Let there be an atmosphere of fearlessness that users can get the drugs from a reliable, legal, authenticated legal force,” he said.

“It would also add to the state’s revenue,” Dharamvira Gandhi added.

He said that a user takes drugs for personal consumption. “A user is never a promoter. The promoter of drugs is mafia which has vested interests. Crores of rupees are at stake. Not all, but many police officers, renowned politicians and many bigwigs are involved in drugs, not only in India but all across the world. It is the drug mafia, be it in Latin America, North America, South America, India, Brazil, or other countries for that matter. There are drug lords. And whatever success people have got against them is only after decriminalising drugs. Portugal is one great example. The Portuguese government has done this. There was lot of crime because of drugs, lot of HIV and other communicable diseases by the use of intravenous injections and it (Portugal) had topped this table in entire Europe, but now it is at the bottom only because of decriminalising all drugs.”

When asked if he was for legalising heroin and other such substances, he said, “I don’t think it could be done in India in no time. But Portugal did it. Many countries are in fact providing syringes so that hepatitis and HIV are not spread by drug users. There are many ways to approach the users in a compassionate manner.”

On opium, Dharamvira Gandhi said, “It is non-fatal. People have been using it for ages in Punjab. Punjab was doing fine with it. There was no problem. There were four to five users of opium in a village. They were part of our culture. There were songs and jokes on them describing them as ‘amli’ (opium consumers). It is the mafia that spread either opioid or opium husk to each household, each school, every college, everywhere.” Maluka said, “There have been three governments – of Akali Dal, Congress, and now AAP – which have been blamed for the drug problem in the state and the allegations and counter-allegations have done little to end the menace.”

Maluka said he had spoken to a few medical experts who are also of the view that government should allow the sale of opium on experimental basis to keep addicts from harmful drugs. “Government should make cards for users to buy opium. This will also give exact data of users which is not known now,” he added. Maluka said while opium which is “not harmful” was banned, the government allowed the sale of liquor which damages liver. “I know hundreds of families which got broken due to liquor problem. Only a drunkard picks a fight. Records will show that a person who consumes opium cannot fight with anyone,” he added.

The Akali leader further said, “The state can earn double the revenue relatively if it allows sale of opium.” Maluka said, “I myself don’t take any drug. Drug in any form is bad. But, I am only advocating this that the youth can be kept from harmful drugs currently they use. And big fish involved in drugs should be put behind bars.”
He also recollected his childhood days and said, “When we were 10 or 12 (years of age), there were three drugs, liquor distilled at home and English liquor, dry ganja and opium. Majority of the people like 70 to 75 per cent consumed opium bought from its vend in our village and the liquor was meant for the rich who first used to have home-made liquor and later took to the English liquor (Indian Made Foreign Liquor). Any person consuming opium costing Rs 10 used to do labour worth Rs 100 as it used to increase their working capacity.”

Punjab Police has arrested as many as 18,079 drug smugglers, including 2,643 big fish since July 5, 2022, a little over 13-month period. The police have registered a total of 13,458 FIRs of which 1,630 are related to commercial quantity, as per police.

Police teams have recovered 1,259.66-kg heroin from across the state after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-infested areas, besides laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state. Additionally, 147.5-kg heroin was recovered by the teams of Punjab Police from Seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 1,407.16 kg in just 13 months, Punjab Inspector General of Police (Headquarters) Sukhchain Singh Gill had told a press conference recently.

During this period, police also recovered 837.42-kg opium, 951.37-kg ganja, 404.45 quintals of poppy husk, and 89 lakh tablets/capsules/injections/vials of pharma opioids from across the state. The police have also recovered Rs 13.29 crore of drug money from the possession of drug smugglers arrested during this period.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in Punjab and Congress legislator from Qadian (Partap Singh Bajwa) slammed Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for his address in Patiala on Independence Day where the CM announced to have prepared a blueprint to rid the state of drugs, including ‘chitta’, by Independence Day next year.

Bajwa said, “Before the assembly elections in 2022, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had extended a specific guarantee to make Punjab drug-free within four months after forming the government. However, 18 months later, Mann was saying that he had only been able to prepare a blueprint against chitta.”