Rising drug prices force youths to rehabilitation centres

Ashish (name changed), a 25-year-old drug addict from Gurdaspur city got himself admitted at the Red Cross Drug De-addiction centre during the lockdown when the price of the infamous ‘Chitta’ or heroin reached Rs 12,000 per gram in Punjab. Earlier the price of the heroin used to range anywhere between Rs 4,000-Rs 6,000 per gram.

According to Ashish, it was ‘affordable’ for him but as soon as the supply chain was snapped due to the lockdown and drug peddlers found it difficult to smuggle the heroin, prices skyrocketed. Ashish says, ‘I was an addict of heroin for the past many years. During the lockdown, the cost of the drug increased manifold due to dip in supply as a result I had to leave it but faced withdrawal symptoms. One of my friends told me that there is a rehabilitation centre in Gurdaspur so I decided to get myself registered.’

Ashish said that most of the addicts were not able to get heroin during the lockdown period at all. ‘However, the price of the drug had increased manifold when the restrictions were relaxed,’ said Ashish.

Satnam Singh (name changed) from Batala has been a drug addict for the past seven years. The lockdown also brought ‘hard time’ on him as heroin became inaccessible during the lockdown. ‘Due to the police presence in the entire state at every nook and corner, peddlers were not able to supply drugs to their customers. In absence of drugs I had to get myself admitted at the rehabilitation centre,’ said Satnam.

Gurdaspur and adjoining Pathankot are the border districts of Punjab and share their boundary with Pakistan. While Pathankot also shares its border internally with J&K and Himachal Pradesh, Gurdaspur is located close to Himachal that makes both the districts suitable for international as well as inter-state drug peddling. The drug racket operates from Pakistan and Afghanistan and the heroin and other narcotics are pumped into India through the Punjab and J&K border.

Dose of buprenorphine

While many of the drug addicts may be willing to give up their dependence on narcotics, the staff at the rehabilitation centres suspect that many others may be getting registered to get the dose of buprenorphine. Buprenorphine is an opioid that is used during the treatment of drug addicts. A dose of the same is provided to the addicts so that they leave the habit of narcotics.

Romesh Mahajan, Project Director at the Red Cross Drug De-addiction Treatment-cum-Rehabilitation Centre, Gurdaspur says that since the lockdown started, many drug addicts were registered with the centre. ‘We are receiving queries from patients more than our capacity. Before lockdown, we received two to three patients daily but now eight to ten addicts are coming to us,’ said Mahajan. All patients are not admitted due to lack of capacity and are referred to the outpatient department.

The Government of Punjab has also formulated the guidelines for private drug de-addiction centres admitting addicts. ‘It is to be noted that opioid, agonists like buprenorphine etc. are themselves opioids, with all the psychoactive and addictive properties of abused opiates. If they are used properly, they can save and rebuild lives, however, if used improperly, they can cause damage like any other opiate’ the guidelines by the Punjab government reads.

The guidelines also allow an addict to take the Buprenorphine- Naloxone (BNX) to their homes under some conditions. ‘The patient must be registered in the concerned de-addiction Center with some unique identification number by which he can be linked with a computerized database. The exact total number of BNX tablets dispensed to the patient – must be documented and to begin with, he/she should be given doses for 3-5 days. After three such consecutive visits, he/she can be given doses for 7 days in one visit’ the official guidelines stated.

1.29 lakh drug addicts enrolled in rehabilitation centres since the lockdown

Since March 25, when the nationwide lockdown was imposed, a whopping 1.29 lakh drug addicts enrolled themselves in different drug rehabilitation centres across Punjab. Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu in an official statement said that from March 25 to June 19, more than 5.44 lakh patients have been registered on the central online portal system under drug de-addiction program and 1.29 lakh new patients have come for treatment across the state.

After suspicion of abuse of the medicine, received from de-addiction centres, by addicts, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh ordered to introduce urine test every six months, for the addicts registered at different rehabilitation and de-addiction centres, for dispensing de-addiction drugs to check abuse.

Experts believe that the withdrawal symptoms of the addicts may have drawn them to the rehabilitation centres. Dr Rajiv Gupta, a prominent psychiatrist of Ludhiana says that the dependency of addicts on heroin is such that they could face severe withdrawal symptoms in case they do not …