The image remains seared into memory, a haunting tableau of innocence against a backdrop of despair. Home alone, three children, their small hands interlaced, descended the stairs, their faces etched with a fear far too profound for their tender years. As the youngest, barely seven, managed a scared, wavering smile, all my carefully formulated journalistic questions dissolved into the stark reality before me. This moment, witnessed during a reporting assignment on the pervasive drug crisis in Punjab in late 2024, has become the most enduring symbol of a state grappling with an existential threat.
The house in Badshahpur village, Kapurthala district, was a chilling testament to the intergenerational trauma wrought by addiction and illicit trade. It belonged to a man recently granted bail in a case registered under the stringent Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. His wife languished in prison, and their teenage daughter had just been detained, her alleged involvement in drug peddling exposed by a viral video. As dusk settled over the village, painting the sky in shades of orange and purple, and the melodic strains of evening prayers wafted from a nearby gurdwara, the enormity of Punjab’s crisis became painfully clear. Children like these, robbed of their childhoods and family structures, were not mere statistics; they were the most vulnerable collateral damage, their futures slowly being devoured by the insidious spread of drugs.
This week, that bleak future claimed yet another victim, a poignant reminder that the crisis continues its relentless march.
Gulzar Singh’s Desperate Act: A Cry for Help Silenced
Gulzar Singh, a daily-wage labourer from Sangrur, chose a tragic end, consuming Celphos tablets after allegedly being threatened by the local sarpanch and others. His perceived transgression? Daring to question a sitting minister about the rampant drug abuse that plagued his area. His death sent a ripple of despair through his community, illuminating the dangerous intersection of addiction, political power, and a desperate populace.
At his humble home, Gulzar Singh’s son, a skeletal figure whose youth had been ravaged by addiction, shared a harrowing confession with The Indian Express. He admitted to spending every single paisa he earned as a labourer on "chitta" – the local term for heroin. His words echoed a chilling refrain heard across the state: "chitta is as easily available as namak (salt)." This stark comparison, uttered with a chilling nonchalance, underscored the horrifying ease with which potent narcotics can be acquired, transforming entire generations into prisoners of addiction and despair. Gulzar Singh’s tragedy wasn’t just a personal loss; it was a symptom of a deeply ailing society, where speaking truth to power about the drug menace could cost one their life, and where the next generation was already in the throes of a losing battle.
From Outrage to Acceptance: Punjab’s Shifting Narrative
The release of the Bollywood film "Udta Punjab" in 2016, which depicted the state’s severe drug problem, ignited a furious backlash across Punjab. Many residents and political leaders bristled, viewing the movie as a sensationalist attempt to tarnish the state’s proud image and reputation. There was a strong sense of denial, a collective unwillingness to confront the ugly truth that was festering beneath the surface.
However, in the years that followed, that initial outrage has gradually given way to a grim, almost fatalistic, acceptance. The harsh reality of widespread addiction has become undeniable, seeping into the fabric of everyday life. Today, words that once carried a stigma or were whispered in hushed tones – "chitta" (heroin), "goliyan" (pills), and "sooiyan" (injectables) – have become an uncomfortable, yet ubiquitous, part of the Punjabi vernacular. They are discussed openly in tea stalls, homes, and community gatherings, signaling a profound societal shift. This normalization of drug-related terminology is not a sign of recovery, but rather a chilling indicator of how deeply entrenched the problem has become, moving from a hidden shame to an open, albeit devastating, fact of life. The collective consciousness of Punjab has been forced to confront a crisis that can no longer be swept under the rug, even as solutions remain elusive.
Roots of the Crisis: Geography, History, and a Shifting Market
Veteran police officers and socio-economic analysts alike trace the origins of Punjab’s profound drug crisis to a confluence of geographical, historical, and economic factors. Central to this unfortunate reality is the state’s strategic, yet vulnerable, location. Punjab shares a nearly 500-kilometre international border with Pakistan, placing it in perilous proximity to the infamous Golden Crescent. This major opium-producing region, spanning Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, has long been a primary source of illicit narcotics flowing into the global market.
What began largely as a transit route for drugs destined for international markets gradually evolved into a far more complex and deeply entrenched narcotics economy within Punjab itself. The illicit substances, once merely passing through, started to spill over into local communities, creating a ready supply and, tragically, a burgeoning demand. Over time, the nature of the drug trade also shifted. While traditional opiates remained prevalent, the market witnessed an alarming surge in synthetic narcotics and, increasingly, cheaper pharmaceutical drugs. These pharma drugs, often diverted from legitimate medical supply chains, offered a more accessible and seemingly less risky alternative for both peddlers and users.
Chemists and pharmacists, often unwilling participants in this grim reality, speak openly about the widespread misuse of medicines primarily intended for pain relief, neurological disorders, and even cough syrups. The sheer volume and ease of access to these diverted pharmaceuticals have created a parallel market that fuels addiction. A particularly infamous example is the "ghodeyan wala capsule" – a powerful painkiller originally manufactured by a Dehradun-based pharma company. Its widespread abuse led to allegations so severe that the company was eventually compelled to discontinue its production, highlighting the devastating impact of pharmaceutical diversion on public health. This evolution of the drug market, from traditional opiates to a complex cocktail of synthetics and diverted medicines, underscores the adaptability of traffickers and the escalating challenge faced by authorities.
A Litany of Broken Promises: Governments and the Drug Menace
The drug menace in Punjab has transcended mere criminality; it has become a persistent, defining political issue. Successive state governments, regardless of their political stripe, have recognized the gravity of the crisis and have, in turn, made grand promises to rid Punjab of drugs. Yet, despite these pledges and public declarations, the problem has only deepened, leading to a profound sense of public cynicism and despair.
The Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government, during its tenure, launched its first major anti-drug campaign in 2014, acknowledging the burgeoning problem. However, their efforts were largely perceived as insufficient, failing to stem the tide. In 2017, ahead of the Assembly elections, Captain Amarinder Singh, then leading the Congress party, famously swore on the revered Gutka Sahib (a holy Sikh scripture) to eradicate drugs from Punjab within a mere four weeks if elected. This dramatic vow resonated deeply with a desperate populace, contributing significantly to his party’s victory. Yet, four weeks turned into four years, and while some measures were initiated, the promise remained unfulfilled, leaving many feeling betrayed.
Most recently, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept to power in 2022, largely on an anti-corruption and anti-drug plank. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, riding a wave of public expectation, promised decisive results within a year, pledging to wipe out the menace that had plagued the state for so long. However, as the self-imposed deadline passed, the ground reality remained largely unchanged. While official efforts have been visible, the pervasive availability of drugs continues to challenge the credibility of these repeated political assurances. The cycle of promises, initial public hope, and subsequent disillusionment has become a tragic hallmark of Punjab’s battle against drugs, eroding public trust and deepening the crisis of governance.
The War on Drugs: Numbers on Paper, Reality on the Ground
In March 2025, the Punjab Police launched "Yudh Nasheyan Virudh" (War Against Drugs), a comprehensive and ambitious campaign aimed at dismantling the drug trade. On paper, the numbers generated by this initiative are indeed impressive, painting a picture of relentless law enforcement action. Between March 1, 2025, and September 2, 2026, the police registered a staggering 59,293 First Information Reports (FIRs) under the NDPS Act. They arrested 696 major traffickers, a testament to focused intelligence and operational efforts. The seizures were equally significant: 3,757 kg of heroin, an immense quantity that could have fueled countless addictions, and 62 lakh tablets, highlighting the pervasive issue of pharmaceutical drug abuse. Furthermore, Rs 22 crore in drug money was recovered, aiming to hit traffickers where it hurts most – their illicit profits.
Taking a cue from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab also began implementing a policy of attaching and demolishing properties allegedly constructed from the proceeds of drug trafficking. This aggressive tactic aimed to create a strong deterrent, sending a message that ill-gotten gains would not provide lasting security.
However, despite these formidable statistics and highly visible enforcement actions, the voices from the ground tell a starkly different story. The persistent refrain, heard in villages and towns across Punjab, is that the supply of drugs has not dried up. The chilling ease of access to "chitta" – as easily available as "namak" – continues to be a grim reality. This disconnect between official figures and lived experience underscores the formidable challenge facing law enforcement. It suggests that while arrests and seizures may disrupt parts of the network, the underlying infrastructure of the drug trade remains robust, capable of quickly replenishing supplies and adapting to new enforcement strategies. The sheer scale of the problem demands not just arrests, but a systemic overhaul that addresses both supply and demand effectively.
A Systemic Rot: Complicity and Incarceration
The persistent failure to curb the drug trade, despite repeated official crackdowns, points towards a deeper, more troubling issue: systemic complicity. Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, who has actively engaged with groups like "Mothers Against Drugs," cut through the official narratives with one of the sharpest and most uncomfortable observations to date. He declared unequivocally that the drug trade "cannot survive even 10 days without the support of the police and administration." This indictment, coming from a constitutional head of the state, highlights a profound crisis of trust and governance, suggesting that elements within the very institutions tasked with eradicating the menace are, in fact, enabling its perpetuation.
This uncomfortable truth echoed with chilling clarity in court this week, exposing the shocking extent of the problem within state institutions. In an affidavit submitted before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the police made a stunning admission: drugs are readily available inside Punjab’s prisons. The data presented was equally alarming. The number of inmates registered for opioid treatment within prisons surged from 2,540 at the time of their entry to an astonishing 15,768 during their incarceration. A shocked Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra observed, with palpable dismay, that addiction seemed to have multiplied "four to five times" after prisoners were incarcerated. This revelation is a damning indictment of the prison system, suggesting that instead of being places of rehabilitation, jails have become fertile grounds for deepening addiction, possibly even serving as distribution hubs within the state’s drug network. It indicates a profound failure of oversight and raises serious questions about the integrity of prison staff and the broader administration. The implications are dire, signaling that the very mechanisms meant to curb crime might inadvertently be fostering it, trapping individuals in a cycle of addiction and further entrenching the drug problem within society.
Evolving Threats: Drones, Floods, and Sophisticated Smuggling
The drug supply networks operating across Punjab are not static; they are constantly evolving, adopting increasingly sophisticated and audacious methods to circumvent law enforcement. Today, the traditional ground routes are supplemented by alarming aerial incursions. Drones, often equipped with advanced navigation systems, are now regularly employed to ferry drugs and even weapons across Punjab’s nearly 500-km international border with Pakistan. Despite the deployment of anti-drone systems and heightened vigilance by border security forces, this summer witnessed a particularly troubling trend: drones making deliveries not just under the cover of darkness, but brazenly in daylight, underscoring the growing confidence and technological sophistication of traffickers. These aerial deliveries represent a significant challenge, as they are difficult to intercept and can quickly drop consignments in remote, pre-arranged locations.
Beyond the skies, new vulnerabilities have emerged from natural disasters. The devastating floods of 2023, which submerged vast swathes of Punjab, inadvertently created another lucrative route for drug traffickers. The chaos and disruption caused by the floodwaters provided an opportune moment for smugglers to exploit the reduced surveillance and altered terrain. During this period, police cracked a chilling case involving a trafficker from Jalandhar who allegedly orchestrated a daring operation. He dispatched three professional swimmers across the swollen Sutlej River to retrieve a massive consignment of 50 kg of heroin. The swimmers were reportedly paid handsomely, between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh for every kilogram they successfully ferried across the treacherous waters. Law enforcement officials now believe that such consignments became even larger and more frequent during last year’s floods, highlighting how environmental crises can be cynically leveraged by criminal networks to expand their illicit operations. These evolving threats – from high-tech drones to exploiting natural calamities – underscore the relentless adaptability of the drug trade and the constant need for innovative and robust countermeasures.
Political Exploitation: Drugs as a Perennial Election Plank
As the Assembly elections loom on the horizon, the drug crisis, predictably, has once again surged to the forefront of Punjab’s political discourse. For years, the issue has been a potent weapon in the electoral arena, wielded by various parties seeking to capture public sentiment and votes.
In 2017, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), then a formidable opposition force, successfully gained significant traction by making drug abuse one of its biggest campaign issues. Its rallies, often led by the charismatic Bhagwant Mann, resonated deeply with a populace desperate for change. Mann famously concluded his speeches with his distinctive "kikli" (a traditional ditty or chant), using it as a powerful, rhythmic message to drive home the narrative against the then-ruling Akali Dal, often targeting the Badal family directly.
More recently, leaders of the radical Sikh outfit, Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De), made drugs the centrepiece of their speeches during the politically significant Rakhar Puniya rally just a fortnight ago. Their rhetoric, often laced with religious undertones, aimed to mobilize support by promising a moral cleansing of the state. Jailed MP Amritpal Singh, before his arrest, had built much of his early popularity and cult-like following around promises of establishing de-addiction centres within gurdwaras. He offered a faith-based, disciplined approach to rehabilitation, appealing to a section of society that felt abandoned by the state. I personally met several families at the gurdwara in his native village of Jallupur Khera, who had travelled from far and wide with their drug-dependent relatives, simply because they believed "Bhai Sahib" (Amritpal Singh) possessed the spiritual authority and conviction to reform them through faith and strict discipline.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), too, is preparing to make drug eradication a major poll plank. Its "Nasha Mukt Yatras" (Drug-Free Rallies) are scheduled to begin mid-September, culminating in a massive rally to be addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Shah, a powerful national figure, had earlier declared at a "Badlav" (Change) rally in Moga that only his government possessed the will and capability to wipe out the menace from Punjab.
Punjab has heard countless such promises from across the political spectrum. Yet, the grim reality is that the only real "change" has been in the nature of the drug trade itself – becoming more pharmaceutical, more aerial, more entrenched, and more insidious with each passing year. The political rhetoric, while capturing headlines, often fails to translate into sustained, effective action, leaving the state in a perpetual cycle of despair.
The Enduring Scars: Punjab’s Battle for its Future
The memory of those three children, hands interlaced, descending the stairs in Badshahpur village, remains an indelible scar on my journalistic conscience. They were not addicts. They were not accused of any crime. They were the raw, undeniable embodiment of the real victims of Punjab’s drug crisis – the innocent caught in the brutal crossfire, their lives irrevocably altered by a scourge they did not create.
The narrative of Punjab, once celebrated for its vibrant culture, agricultural prowess, and indomitable spirit, is now increasingly intertwined with the grim shadow of addiction. The crisis is multifaceted, deeply rooted in geographical vulnerabilities, economic distress, and, most disturbingly, systemic corruption that implicates elements within the police and administration. Despite grand political promises and impressive, yet often insufficient, law enforcement statistics, the drug trade has only grown more sophisticated, adapting with alarming agility to counter every official effort. Drones crisscrossing the international border, traffickers exploiting floodwaters, and prisons becoming breeding grounds for addiction are stark indicators of the depth of this systemic rot.
Punjab stands at a critical juncture. The children of today are the future of tomorrow, and their silent suffering is a potent warning. Unless a truly comprehensive, sustained, and honest effort is made – one that transcends political opportunism, dismantles complicity, addresses socio-economic factors, and provides genuine rehabilitation – the state risks losing an entire generation. The fight against drugs in Punjab is not just a battle against crime; it is a battle for the soul of the state, a desperate struggle to reclaim its future from the clutches of an addiction that threatens to devour everything in its path. The haunting smiles of those children demand more than promises; they demand decisive, unyielding action.
