Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has reiterated his demand for a national policy to tackle drug abuse.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, Capt. Amarinder urged him to advise the Ministries of Home, Social Justice and Empowerment, and Health and Family Welfare to address the issue.
“This important issue needs to be addressed with a little more seriousness than it has received so far,” he wrote, according to an official statement released here.
The Chief Minister sought Mr. Modi’s personal intervention for the formulation of a national policy focusing on three components — enforcement, de-addiction and prevention — to tackle the menace of drug abuse in the country.
Capt. Amarinder said a national policy would enable all States to follow a similar, if not the same, approach on drug abuse, which, he said, “has substantially hampered the health of the people, particularly the youth.”
The Chief Minister expressed his State’s willingness to associate with the officers concerned of the Centre not only to evolve the policy but also to put in place an effective mechanism for its implementation.
Besides, he also raised security concerns emerging out of narco-terrorism, saying these were rather grave in the context of Punjab, which shares a 553-km border with Pakistan.
‘Global problem’
Capt. Amarinder said substance abuse was undoubtedly a global problem entailing heavy socio-economic costs. “In the last two decades, the prevalence of illicit drug trafficking has assumed alarming proportions in India too,” the Chief Minister said.
