Centre’s war against drugs

In declaring an all-out war with a “collective ruthless approach” against the worrying rise in drugs and narcotic substances across the country, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has drawn the nation’s attention to an issue that tends to fly below the radar.

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Recommending a “top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top” investigation and action, Shah tasked the union government to prepare a roadmap up to 2029-2030 with a time-bound review mechanism for its implementation and directed DGPs in all states to take concrete steps to destroy the networks of drugs and narcotic substances in their territories.The urgency on addressing India’s silent killer, especially of the young, could not have come a day too soon. The government’ statistics show that while the drugs seized from 2004 to 2013 weighed 26 lakh kg and were worth Rs 40,000 crore in the international market, there was an II-fold increase between 2014 and 2025, with 1.11 lakh kg worth Rs 171 lakh crore of substances seized. As it happens, states in northern India, especially Punjab a