In 4.5 years, Punjab procured 43.44 crore pills of opioid used to treat drug addiction

The rise in procurement has coincided with an increase in the number of patients registered at Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) clinics, from about 2 lakh in 2022 to nearly 3.17 lakh in 2026. However, the Assembly committee questioned whether increasing registrations and medicine procurement could be treated as indicators of success when the government could not specify how many addicts had completely recovered.

During the committee’s proceedings, the members asked how many patients who began treatment in 2022 were still taking Buprenorphine and how many had become drug free. As per the report, the officials replied that a person who had stopped consuming illicit drugs and was taking Buprenorphine under medical supervision was considered de-addicted. They also said that there was no fixed duration for the therapy, comparing it with medicines taken for chronic diseases such as diabetes. They also said that if an addict had to take Buprenorphine for life, it did not risk his life due to overdose, as is the case with other narcotics.

Questions on de-addiction strategy

The explanation did not satisfy the committee with members asking whether the government was effectively accepting long-term dependence on Buprenorphine as part of its de-addiction strategy. The committee also raised reports of misuse of the medicine. Officials informed the committee that some patients dissolve Buprenorphine tablets in water and inject the solution intravenously, creating a fresh pattern of needle based addiction. The report highlighted infrastructure gaps as well. Ludhiana Civil Hospital, despite witnessing over 250 patients daily at its de-addiction centre, has only 15 dedicated beds. The committee recommended increasing bed strength and reviewing facilities across the state.

It also expressed concern over unregistered private de-addiction centres operating from residential buildings in districts, including Amritsar. Members asked how Buprenorphine tablets were reaching such centres when they lacked licences and qualified medical staff. The committee recommended an inquiry into illegal rehabilitation centres and possible diversion of substitution medicines.

‘Overuse’ in prisons

The panel further sought details of Buprenorphine supplied to Punjab prisons during 2025, noting that jails house a large number of inmates booked under the NDPS Act and require strict monitoring of medicine distribution. Observing that medicines alone cannot ensure lasting recovery, the committee recommended strengthening counselling, rehabilitation and psychological support, besides constituting a joint medical and administrative team to evaluate the effectiveness of Punjab’s de-addiction programme. It said the government’s success should ultimately be measured by the number of people who permanently quit drugs and successfully returned to normal life, rather than by the volume of medicines procured or patients registered.

MLA Gill, while tabling the report raised concerns over the sharp rise in the procurement, particularly for prisons, questioning whether the state needed to examine if dependence on these medicines was emerging as a new challenge even as it intensified its campaign against drug abuse.

Participating in a discussion on the functioning of the Health Department, Gill said the government’s anti-drug campaign had yielded positive results, with more patients being admitted to de-addiction centres and hospitals. However, he said data on the procurement and supply of de-addiction tablets warranted closer scrutiny.

Gill said that while around 1.17 crore tablets were supplied to jails in 2022, the figure had increased to nearly 8.87 crore in 2026, an almost eight-fold jump. “The number of prisoners does not increase so drastically. Why has the supply of these tablets gone up so sharply? We must ensure that while trying to free people from drug addiction, we do not end up creating dependence on another medicine,” he said.

While appreciating the efforts of the Health Department, Gill said the government should closely examine whether the steep rise in procurement, especially for prisons, indicated another issue that required attention.

Health minister’s reply

Responding to the concerns, Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh said the increase in the supply of medicines was a result of the government’s decision to expand de-addiction services, particularly inside prisons. He said dedicated de-addiction wards and OOAT clinics had been established in jails, with psychiatrists, counsellors and specialists posted to ensure that inmates underwent treatment before being released. “There should be no misunderstanding. The increase is because we have strengthened treatment facilities inside jails,” he said.

The minister also said the higher consumption of tablets reflected a shift in treatment strategy, with drug users being moved away from injectable drugs to oral medicines. He said overdose deaths were earlier common among people using injectable drugs, while medicines such as pregabalin, prescribed for neuropathy, were also being misused. After curbing such misuse, the government had encouraged patients to take prescribed de-addiction medicines under medical supervision.