24-06-23 Daily-Punjab-PPSC Current Affairs

Taking forward the commitment of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to treat every drug addict like a patient and deal with them sympathetically, the government is mulling to bring a policy for decriminalisation of the drug use, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir.

Decriminalisation doesnt mean that drugs will get legalised, it will continue to remain illegal. Under this policy, drug addicts or patients of substance use disorders caught with meagre amount of drugs will be sent to de-addiction centres for treatment and rehabilitation instead of putting them into the jails, he said, while maintaining that drug smugglers/peddlers would be dealt by the Police with iron hand.

Dr Balbir Singh further said the problem of drug abuse had affected a large number of Population and created a barrier in the progress of the state. Our government is committed to making Punjab a Rangla Punjab as desired by Bhagwant Mann, he said.

He said the government had been working on formulation and implementation of a policy under which a multi-pronged and multi-disciplinary approach would be adopted to tackle the situation on utmost priority.