Drug abuse echoes in Lok Sabha, members urge govt to take remedial steps without laxity

“This narco-terrorism will not just affect Punjab, but the entire country,” she said. Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee pointed out that policymakers must take into account the fact that India is sandwiched between the two largest opium-producing regions of the world — the Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent.
While the Golden Crescent area includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran; the Golden Triangle comprises Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Laos. This found mention in many other speeches as well.

NCP leader Supriya Sule said the government’s drug abuse prevention programme has certain gaps, particularly in terms of destigmatising the issue. She said actor Deepika Padukone’s fight against depression and Sanjay Dutt’s struggle with drug abuse and their eventual triumph are success stories. “How can we use those icons to tell the children and produce the strength in them to say no to drugs? I think, we have to have academic discussions,” she said.

YSRCP member P V Midhun Reddy urged the government to act against drug abuse with the same intensity displayed in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mahabali Singh of the JD(U) got engaged in a verbal duel with BJP members over their allegations against the Bihar government on the hooch tragedies.

“There is prohibition in Gujarat, but why did people die after consuming illicit liquor there? Why did people die in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh or Madhya Pradesh after consuming illicit liquor? Whoever will consume poison will die,” Singh said.

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi claimed 70 per cent drugs are entering the country via sea routes. “What are you doing about this? Drugs are being purchased over darknet and crypto currency. What are you [government] doing about it?” Owaisi said.