75% Of Youth Addicted To Drugs

[Gurukameet]

Is there a drug problem in Punjab??

[Singh559]

http://www.sikhsanga...921#entry486921

That video is utter non-sense. Don't support it, please take off the link.

It's a propaganda video to aid the Congress party and demoralize the Sikh/Punjabi people. Anyone can make up figures, do you have any idea how large 75% is? That's like saying out of your 50 cousins in india 40 of them are addicted to drugs. The streets wouldn't run at all in Punjab if that were true.

Also, a random group of students in Bombay want to make an informational video about Punjab to try to help it??? GIVE ME A BREAK. After people realized the video is nothing but a propaganda video they removed the comments and disalloewd further comments.

Where did the money come from? Yeah, that's right, from the person wearing an indian flag chunni (congress gaddar).

Thee figures come out periodically. I'd like to know a few things:

a. What is the target market? Meaning' date=' who did they survey?

b. Are females a part of the alcohol/drug problem?

c. What are the ages of the youth? Is it from age 4, 10, 14... till 18, 20, 24?

d. Who performed the survey?

e. When was it performed?

f. Who funded it?

g. What is the margin of error?

h. Where was the survey conducted?

i. How many people were involved?

j. How does Punjab youth compare with other states?

k. Over what period of time was the survey taken?

l. What is the social, economic and religious demographics of these youth?

m. What was the selection criteria?

n. Which professional magazine deemed the survey valid and published it and when was it published? I sincerely would like to read it.

...obviously I can go on. However, we hear nothing more than a number.

These sky-high figures used to be 87%, then I heard 84% over radio Hamsafar about three years ago. Look people, if 73% of Punjab's youth is drugged out, traffic would not move on the roads, colleges would not function, jails would be overcrowded and the economy would sink.

This is a very clear attempt at demoralizing a community or taking the country's attention away from other problems. I would suggest atrocities against Dalits are a more pressing problem for the country.[/quote']

[Gurukameet]

The video was posted in another social forum and I really believed it!!! Apologises, fooled by internet again!!

[S1ngh]

I don't think that video is fake and i am sure that the percentage is more than 50%. Now the question as posted by sikhactivist and other veers are genuine but however i think the problem is huge and in coming years, punjabi youth will eventually die out either by drugs or by uranium present in their ground water..

Couple of years ago, me and my friends worked for three months in amritsar region figuring out the drugs and its effect on punjabis.. we visited probably dozen villages, mostly near border area.. Met with many broken families and the problem is so huge that you will be shocked..

One good thing out of this bad thing is that various type of drugs that ppl use in punjab.. simply not pure. Topused drug in punjab few years ago was smack and 98% of the time dealers mix this drug with other stuff to increase the quantity and sells them at lower prices. Pure smack user will eventually die within a year but average smack user in punjab continues to live much longer. I have found the local politicians protect dealers and police station of particular area/region are in contract terms with only one dealer. If some some outsider dealer who is not in contract with police and tried to sell drugs to anyone will get arrested and it will show up in news. That particular seized drug will again end up in market as police sells em to their contract dealers.

Pre-2001 area = Not many drugs in punjab. Very rare to see smack etc. Taliban put death on those who cultivate drug crops.

Post-2001 area = Afghanistan war. Taliban started mass cultivation of drugs in order to fund their war. Individual farmers getting relief from taliban also started growing small crops. Punjab serves as the entry checkpoint for these drugs to come into India.

It is very well known fact that 20+ years ago, drugs used to come thru punjab/pak border but it goes direct to other states (not heavy drug consumers market in punjab). Now its other way around.. All drug dealers stock get emptied before they even leave for sale in other state.

[Singh559]

I don't think that video is fake and i am sure that the percentage is more than 50%. Now the question as posted by sikhactivist and other veers are genuine but however i think the problem is huge and in coming years, punjabi youth will eventually die out either by drugs or by uranium present in their ground water..

Couple of years ago, me and my friends worked for three months in amritsar region figuring out the drugs and its effect on punjabis.. we visited probably dozen villages, mostly near border area.. Met with many broken families and the problem is so huge that you will be shocked..

One good thing out of this bad thing is that various type of drugs that ppl use in punjab.. simply not pure. Topused drug in punjab few years ago was smack and 98% of the time dealers mix this drug with other stuff to increase the quantity and sells them at lower prices. Pure smack user will eventually die within a year but average smack user in punjab continues to live much longer. I have found the local politicians protect dealers and police station of particular area/region are in contract terms with only one dealer. If some some outsider dealer who is not in contract with police and tried to sell drugs to anyone will get arrested and it will show up in news. That particular seized drug will again end up in market as police sells em to their contract dealers.

Pre-2001 area = Not many drugs in punjab. Very rare to see smack etc. Taliban put death on those who cultivate drug crops.

Post-2001 area = Afghanistan war. Taliban started mass cultivation of drugs in order to fund their war. Individual farmers getting relief from taliban also started growing small crops. Punjab serves as the entry checkpoint for these drugs to come into India.

It is very well known fact that 20+ years ago, drugs used to come thru punjab/pak border but it goes direct to other states (not heavy drug consumers market in punjab). Now its other way around.. All drug dealers stock get emptied before they even leave for sale in other state.

Agreed, I think the overall intention of the video was bad, that was all I was saying. There is definitely a problem of addiction. In my opinion the only way to combat it is to regain control of Punjab and allow for the prospering of Sikhi and freedom. Right now many people are slaves financially (debt) and socially (class).

Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale did so much (and continues and will continue to inspire) to get youth away from anything bad and getting them back onto the path of righteousness and reality through Gurbani. I'm not an expert, but I don't think many addicts ever truly recover just by going to institutions or anything off the book..

[West London Singh]

Post-2001 area = Afghanistan war. Taliban started mass cultivation of drugs in order to fund their war

Well actually the taliban virtually put a stop to opium production.....executing thousands of opium farmers and peddlars. It is no coincidence that it was during the period of taliban power that the price of heroin rocketed on British streets because it was so hard to get hold of. It is also no coincidence that since our lovely British and american governments toppled the Taliban our streets are so full of heroin that the price per gram has more than halved. But......thats another story. Regarding this story....about Punjab's '75% drug addiction'. Included in the data of 'drug addicts' are people that drink beers, buy cough mixture, buy painkillers such as paracetemol etc. If England, Canada or Australia used the same criteria for calculating the percentage of 'drug addicts' than we would have a headline in the Daily Mail proclaiming that Britian has a 99% drug addicted population. I suggest the people that compile these statistics in India be the first to be drug tested. They're definately on something.

[gurdssingh]

I don't think that video is fake and i am sure that the percentage is more than 50%. Now the question as posted by sikhactivist and other veers are genuine but however i think the problem is huge and in coming years, punjabi youth will eventually die out either by drugs or by uranium present in their ground water..

Couple of years ago, me and my friends worked for three months in amritsar region figuring out the drugs and its effect on punjabis.. we visited probably dozen villages, mostly near border area.. Met with many broken families and the problem is so huge that you will be shocked..

One good thing out of this bad thing is that various type of drugs that ppl use in punjab.. simply not pure. Topused drug in punjab few years ago was smack and 98% of the time dealers mix this drug with other stuff to increase the quantity and sells them at lower prices. Pure smack user will eventually die within a year but average smack user in punjab continues to live much longer. I have found the local politicians protect dealers and police station of particular area/region are in contract terms with only one dealer. If some some outsider dealer who is not in contract with police and tried to sell drugs to anyone will get arrested and it will show up in news. That particular seized drug will again end up in market as police sells em to their contract dealers.

Pre-2001 area = Not many drugs in punjab. Very rare to see smack etc. Taliban put death on those who cultivate drug crops.

Post-2001 area = Afghanistan war. Taliban started mass cultivation of drugs in order to fund their war. Individual farmers getting relief from taliban also started growing small crops. Punjab serves as the entry checkpoint for these drugs to come into India.

It is very well known fact that 20+ years ago, drugs used to come thru punjab/pak border but it goes direct to other states (not heavy drug consumers market in punjab). Now its other way around.. All drug dealers stock get emptied before they even leave for sale in other state.

Paaji, Respect for the seva you did.

I'm just going to share my personal experience also. During my gap year I travelled extensively throughout whole of India, focusing on Punjab. I voluntered at the deaddiction centre at Guru Nanak Mission Hospital, Dhahan Kaleran, Distt. Nawanshahr (now known as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar). My ancesteral village is Khatkar Kalen, Villages Dhahan and Kaleran are very near. Basically Dr. Sardar Budh Singh Ji started enormous seva for the poor here i.e. schools, college, hospital, drug rehab etc.

I was there before 2001 and the deaddiction centre had already been running for a number of years. So herion or smack (as it is known in Punjab), was rampent, many people were hooked. There is various grades of herion but never pure as it wont run properly, dealers do mix it with other stuff, anything to bulk it up, usually other tablets or caffeine (this is also common practice in UK, they use stuff like roehepnol), BUT they dont do it too sell it cheaper but sell it at the same price and make more profit. (Just like UK dealers).

If you talk to parents, realtives of smack users or people who use other drugs they will tell you old wives tales about if its pure you die in 1 year if not then they live longer. That is wrong. If you inject herion/smack there is high chance of overdose ONLY IF you use too much of if it has been mixed with dodgey stuff, you can not really overdose by smoking on foil (as what most Punjabis do).

Police / Politicans may be involved as Indo / Pak border is well regulated, what is needed is to bring them down, and show how corrupt they are if involved.

Drugs have been used by many in Punjab for much longer than 20 + years.

Well actually the taliban virtually put a stop to opium production.....executing thousands of opium farmers and peddlars. It is no coincidence that it was during the period of taliban power that the price of heroin rocketed on British streets because it was so hard to get hold of. It is also no coincidence that since our lovely British and american governments toppled the Taliban our streets are so full of heroin that the price per gram has more than halved. But......thats another story. Regarding this story....about Punjab's '75% drug addiction'. Included in the data of 'drug addicts' are people that drink beers, buy cough mixture, buy painkillers such as paracetemol etc. If England, Canada or Australia used the same criteria for calculating the percentage of 'drug addicts' than we would have a headline in the Daily Mail proclaiming that Britian has a 99% drug addicted population. I suggest the people that compile these statistics in India be the first to be drug tested. They're definately on something.

Having a few drinks and drinking like an alcoholic are different. Buying a medication if you are ill and using prescribed drugs(medicines) for a high or to feel normal are different. Punjab today especailly Nawanshahr (S.B.S.N) is aboundant with chemist who sell prescribed drugs/medicines illegally. What you fail to see is the figures are not about people who have a headache etc. BUT those who need it for other reasons (i.e. too not feel withdrawal symtoms or to get high etc) . Have you heard of number 10 goalia / das number diya goliya (number 10 tablets). There are many, many more I cant list all prescription drugs/medicines that get people high, so the stats do not include people who are genuinely ill.

This is my personal experience of seeing and interacting with users. But then I could be wrong, but this is my experience, NOT what I heard or read.

[mohinder pal]

Dark has to spread so that Light Shines Joyfully. Even Diamond comes out of a Coal. Importance of truth is known only when there is Lies all around.

[West London Singh]

Gurddsingh, you wanna check to see who is included in this list of 'drug addicts'. The man who drinks a beer is included. The man who smokes a cigarette is included. The man who buys cough syrup is included. The list is ridiculous. If any other nation used such silly criteria to complile their list you would never in a million years take it seriously, but because its Punjab and we get all teary-eyed when it comes to Punjab we let our emotions get the better of our senses.

Look, I visit my village back home quite often and I know there's quite a few young men (and women) on smack. That smack is the real problem in Punjab.....The real killer. But instead of concentrating their efforts on fighting this evil of smack, the authorities and academics in Punjab come up with these stupid statistics that put smack on a par with things like cough syrup and cigarettes. That doesn't do anybody any good.

But....having acknowledged that heroin is a bit of a problem in Punjab, I am a realist and an optimist. The glass should always be half full. Negative people always imagine things to be worse than they were before. That, however, is not the case. I know how, in the last generation, drugs were an essential tool of the farming trade, especially around harvest time. There was absolutely no way a farmer could be up day and night for the busy 7 days of harvest wityhout drugs. If he didn't do it he would not be able to feed his family. My own grandfather and uncles have told me themselves how they got through most of the farming with drugs. Today, with many of those sons driving for a living rather than farming, its a similar story. Without the amphetemines they take there is absolutely no way any human could take passenger in their taxi or goods in their truck from jalandhar to Delhi and back again constantly for days running. If they don't do it their family would not have food on their table so who are we to judge ?...we who are guaranteed food on our table ?

So you see, swings and roundabouts. Its the same as its always been. In fact it used to be a lot worse.

p.s heres a little tip : next time you're on your way from Punjab to Delhi airport and your driver stops at a dhaba in Haryana. When he comes back to the car have a look at his fingers. See if he has a greenish paste on the tip of one of his fingers. If he has that means he's just made a drug deal (amphetamine) with one of the many dealers at those dhabas. In India they call it the 'harri ungli' ....the 'green finger'.

[gurdssingh]

Gurddsingh, you wanna check to see who is included in this list of 'drug addicts'. The man who drinks a beer is included. The man who smokes a cigarette is included. The man who buys cough syrup is included. The list is ridiculous. If any other nation used such silly criteria to complile their list you would never in a million years take it seriously, but because its Punjab and we get all teary-eyed when it comes to Punjab we let our emotions get the better of our senses.

Look, I visit my village back home quite often and I know there's quite a few young men (and women) on smack. That smack is the real problem in Punjab.....The real killer. But instead of concentrating their efforts on fighting this evil of smack, the authorities and academics in Punjab come up with these stupid statistics that put smack on a par with things like cough syrup and cigarettes. That doesn't do anybody any good.

But....having acknowledged that heroin is a bit of a problem in Punjab, I am a realist and an optimist. The glass should always be half full. Negative people always imagine things to be worse than they were before. That, however, is not the case. I know how, in the last generation, drugs were an essential tool of the farming trade, especially around harvest time. There was absolutely no way a farmer could be up day and night for the busy 7 days of harvest wityhout drugs. If he didn't do it he would not be able to feed his family. My own grandfather and uncles have told me themselves how they got through most of the farming with drugs. Today, with many of those sons driving for a living rather than farming, its a similar story. Without the amphetemines they take there is absolutely no way any human could take passenger in their taxi or goods in their truck from jalandhar to Delhi and back again constantly for days running. If they don't do it their family would not have food on their table so who are we to judge ?...we who are guaranteed food on our table ?

So you see, swings and roundabouts. Its the same as its always been. In fact it used to be a lot worse.

p.s heres a little tip : next time you're on your way from Punjab to Delhi airport and your driver stops at a dhaba in Haryana. When he comes back to the car have a look at his fingers. See if he has a greenish paste on the tip of one of his fingers. If he has that means he's just made a drug deal (amphetamine) with one of the many dealers at those dhabas. In India they call it the 'harri ungli' ....the 'green finger'.

Paaji,

I for one minute do not believe the stats to be accurate. 75 % drugs addicts is ridiculious, even over 50 % seems so high, based on my personal experience its like less than 10 % drug ADDICTS, (herion / smack wise). Which is too high anyway.

I have not read the lists or criteria but if its about people who have tried drugs atleast once then yes it may be true. But proper addicts who cant function without and suffer withdrawal symtoms its alot less. (im talking about herion/smack).

The drug problem in Punjab is huge but its ridiculous to believe the percent stats but it is still a major problem. Obviously some areas are more so affected. Generally due to price of smack its is the more well off families whose members indulge in smack due to the price. As a result less financially well off family members use cheaper substitues.

The point I want to make nearly every one in Punjab has used ingrizee daviya (western medicnes as opposed to desi treatments), there not at all addicts SO if the stats use that criteria then it should be like in high 90's % wise,and absloutley flawed, i'll try and google the list criteria but if you can provide link it would be much appriciated. But some people use prescription drugs/medicine to get high and eventually do become addicted to prescription drugs. Just look at USA especailly Florida the prescription drug capital, where the laws are so lax that people travel hundreds if not over a thousand miles to get large quantites of prescription drugs like oxy (i think its called oxycodone, which the tablets they crush and smoke on foil like herion, many have overdosed and died). Oxy is an opiate pain relief medicine but ADDICTS use it for a high. Just like in Punjab there are medicines for if your ill, but many people use the medicines to get a high and then are hooked and need them to feel normal so there is a difference. Alcohol well it about moderation one or a few drinks BUT being an alcoholic are different.

I come from farming family (well my great granddad was my grandad came here to study and dad and i born in UK), I know they took stimulants such as pheem / apheem (its an opiate, black and sqiggey), most truck and other drivers eat it / swallow it. I understand why farmers did it due to the hard physical work and lack of industrialised farming equipment as it relives pain, but drivers are a bit naughty as it makes you drowsy after a bit so its dangerous. I dont know about the green fingers but pheem does make the tips of fingers coloured after prolonged use. You are right about dhabeh as if no dealers about, drivers sell to each other.