Surjeet Singh, 17, a living carcass with eyes dangling out from the sockets of his skull, is supported by his father and a relative as he enters a private drug de-addiction center in Chandigarh. The man, whose ribs can be counted through his parrot-green T-shirt, is followed by the hapless mother and sister-in-law.
Two of his elder brothers have died, due to opium abuse, leaving behind the task of rearing the family on the shoulders of Surjeet, when he was just 15-year-old. little did they know about the fact that their brother was into opium since the age of 12.The doctors are sceptic about the future of Surjeet. This family, hailing from a small hamlet in ludhiana, is running pillar to post to save their only heir. However, it is not an isolated story but the story of a region battered by opium use through ages.As Dr Subodh BN, a consultant at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research puts it, “The easy availability of opium in the rural areas has escalated the numbers of opium addicts to an epidemic proportion, but the problem starts when habitual drug abusers become menace to the society, and in Punjab it has become a nightmare.”
A study by the State’s Department of Social Security Development of Women and Children in the year 2012, suggests that around 67 percent of rural households in Punjab had at least one drug addict in the family and the use of opium was high followed by heroine and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs. Worse than this, at least one death due to drug overdose occurs each week in the region.
The romance of youths with drugs is not something new to the region. Opium and other extracts of the poppy plant is the muse, which has been invoked in this region by the name of bhukki in Punjab, posht in Rajasthan, goli in Himachal and kali churan in Haryana. The etymology might vary but what have stayed behind are the families which are falling victim to the residue of the poppy.Poppy flows in the blood of the people in this region, says a senior professor at the Sociology department of Punjab University. A deep plunge into the history of the region makes it obvious that under the colonial rule, the fertile land of Punjab was used to cultivate opium, for exporting it to China, where it was a flourishing trade.
The British left but the traditional knowledge of poppy cultivation and extraction of opium from it, stayed behind. Earlier when the State had larger land holdings, opium was distributed among the migrant workers, both as wage and a tonic to revive their energy after the hard labour of the day. At times it was also supplied to them during work to increase the output, especially when the state was cherishing the prosperity endowed by the Green Revolution.
However, with time the population of the state increased and the land holdings shrunk, and in the absence of adequate industrial growth, the elixir, which was once used to make people work like bulls, seeped into the social fabric and the first victim of this intoxicating curse were the youths.
The International Narcotics control strategy Report in 2004 found that opiates abuse accounted for the 43 percent of Indian drug abuse and according to distribution the predominant population was in the northern part of India comprising Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and some parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where hash has failed to replace opium.
Experts from the School of Public Health and Community Medicine PGI are of the view that the discourse of extent of drugs abuse and the possible sources of procurement of drugs, in the region, has been reiterated in almost all leading dailies, but now it is important to educate the people about the consequences of drug abuse and lay forward a preventive methodology rather than a curative one, because the menace is now resulting into overarching sociological and physiological problems, looming large over a society exposed to drugs, especially opium abuse.
Dr Subodh BN said, “The number of patients we receive at the PGI Drug De-addiction Centre (DDC) is just tip of the iceberg. Still every year this facility gets around 2, 000 new patients and the cause of worry is that, from the year 2013, we have started receiving women addicts.Earlier their number was nil and most of the female addicts were either medicine abusers who got addicted due to prolonged exposure to certain medication.”
Opium abuse is rampant in the region. A study by the Sociology Department of Panjab University suggests that peer pressure, social frustration and unemployment among the ambitious Punjabi population have only aggravated the problem. However, opium abuse has its other related consequences.
Everyone in the Punjab knows about the ‘village of the widows’, but very few people are aware of the fact that the region is also fast evolving into the hub of impotent males. The mushrooming In vitro fertilisation centres speak aloud of the fact. Gynaecologists argue that changing environmental factors and lifestyle are its main perpetrators, but a senior gynaecologist at PGI says that opium and poppy husk abuse is also a leading factor.
Boys as young as 10 years get addicted to opium. Dhiraj, a mechanic working at motor-market in Sector 43, started taking poppy husk when he was just 8-year-old. “It all started after a cricket match, when a friend of my elder brother told me that he has a magic medicine which will help me play without getting exhausted. later I realised that I have developed a back pain and it disappeared only after having the magic medicine,” he said.
By the time he reached the age of 13, Dhiraj knew that he is an addict. It was only after his second wife left, he decided to sober up. He has been sober for the past three years but in the course of his addiction, he lost his potency which cannot be revived.One of the reasons behind opium and poppy husk abuse, in the region, has been the myths attached to their medicinal properties, especially aphrodisiac qualities, which is easily bought by the rural population in absence of proper healthcare in the vicinity and lack of expert advice, says Dr Subodh BN.
Impotency is not the only problem, with females losing their husband at young age; promiscuity has also crept in, especially among the women population.A senior professor of sociology at Panjab University on the conditions of anonymity said, “Everyone knows it is there. Sex is a basic human need and failing to get it, people seek it through other means. There are no studies to prove the extent of female promiscuity in the region, because it is a very sensitive matter and no one wants to talk about it.”
“However during the course of another study for which we were collecting data from various government health centres, one of my students found out that the number of female visiting health centres due to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), especially in the areas where drug abuse is rampant and on a rise. To our utter surprise many of these women were widows,” added the professor. The females are not only victims of deprivation, but many live silently enduring the wrath of hell confined behind the closed doors of their bower. Intimate partner violence is rising exponentially in the region. Earlier it was the wife who faced the brutal onslaught of an addict during their intoxicated stupor, but now slowly and gradually daughters, as young as 6-year-old, are also being victimised.
According to a study done by the PGI, on intimate partner violence shows that the extent of violence is just double among the addicts as compared to a normal couple. Earlier alcohol was the only abuse associated to such violence, but now it is being replaced by opium and poppy husk abusers. There have also been stray cases of homosexuality and child abuse in habitual opium users. The Government’s will to control the drug menace in the region, especially in Punjab has been questionable. The Government has failed on all fronts, from curbing the thriving drug market in the region to provide rehabilitation facility to the addicts.
The crackdown on drug mafias, by the Election Commission during the recent lok Sabha election in the state, clearly indicates that the distribution of drugs can be controlled. The EC set up a constant vigil in the region and there were major drug hauls. The extent and result of drug seizure was quiet evident when one visited the DDC’s in the region, during the course of election. Even Surjeet, consented to treatment, after failing to procure opium during this period.
These centers have received record number of patients during the election season. Owners of medicals stores also witnessed the result of police crackdown on drugs in the region. The owner of a drug store in Mohali said that people used to offer triple price for medicines, which can be substituted for opium. There was a sudden surge in their numbers during the time of elections and it was difficult for us to deal with the addicts as their number kept on swelling.
Meanwhile, DDC’s in Punjab and its neighboring states have also been a story of gloom and despair. According to a study conducted by Dr Vikram Kumar Gupta, Assistant Professor Community medicine Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, most of these ever mushrooming rehabilitation facilities are captivation centres. Addicts visiting these facilities, reach there as addicts but are discharged as abused addicts.
The Government has failed to regulate these centres and make them adhere to the rules laid down for them. The study revealed that only few DDCs run by the Red Cross society and other government agencies are worth visiting, whereas most of the privately run DDCs lacks proper infrastructure and expert counsellor, mandatory for rehabilitating an addict. Most of the private centres are nothing but money minting agencies. The large number of people, belonging to the most productive demography in the region is falling victim to drug abuse and its sociological and physiological implication are getting worse by the day. If the authorities keep up with their apathetic attitude, and refuse to look out of their blinkers to realise the extent of this problem, poppy in the blood will spiral out of control to poison more innocent lives.