Giving a societal push to the Punjab Government’s war on the hydra-headed drug menace, are the villagers — the common people suffering the effects of the consumption blowback. There is hardly any home in the countryside that does not have a family shattered by an addict whose only interest is how to get his next fix, even going to desperate and often deadly extremes. His treatment leaves them penniless, and the children crying and uncared for, and at times, even orphaned. Shattered by the ruin and misery unleashed by drugs over the years, some villages have taken upon themselves the task of eradicating this deadly menace through vigilantism. They are nabbing alleged drug peddlers and handing them over to the police. A political leader has also spearheaded one such campaign.

However well-meaning this practice may be, it is not without pitfalls. While being vigilant against a potential supplier of drugs, the people need to guard against going over the top. In mob fury lies the inherent danger of individuals tipping over to the side of vigilantism in the heat of the moment and taking law into their hands. The examples of recent lynchings in Maharashtra over rumors of child-lifting as well as some innocent people becoming victims of cow vigilantes are fresh. Rather than even one innocent person being victimized, law enforcement is best left to the government. After all, only the law enforcement agencies are equipped to tackle the drug mafia. Bringing the small fry in the net will not end the menace.

The Amarinder Singh government has in the past couple of days unveiled a heady mix of strategies that promise to take on the problem of intoxication. Regular dope tests for all 3.25 lakh Punjab Government employees have been made mandatory as cases of drug-tainted officers, especially in the police, are coming to the fore with shocking regularity. Death penalty has been sought for the peddlers of illicit substances as an alarming number of people are becoming addicted to drugs as well as dying from them. Treatment and rehabilitation of addicts with a renewed goal figure high on its mission. Instead of the death penalty, a strict implementation of the existing NDPS laws is sufficient to take the problem head on.

(Tribune, India)