Punjab’s Drug Stigma: Unpacking the Governance Failures Behind the Label

Abstract

Why is Punjab, the land of five rivers and legendary resilience, now synonymous with a crippling drug crisis, while other states with comparable or even higher substance abuse rates evade the same damning label? Forget the sensational and rhetoric headlines. Punjab’s drug crisis is not just a story of addicts and smugglers; it’s a damning expose of governance in decay. While the Golden Crescent's heroin bleeds across the border, the real poison lies within: A system which is puzzled with unemployment, a judicial backlog and alleged conflict between those sworn to protect and those who profits from destruction. A systemic failure that has left Punjab's youth adrift in a sea of unemployment and despair, prey to a nefarious network that stretches from traffickers to those in power. Despite multiple assurances like Health Minister Balbir Singh's statement that "the government is determined to root out drug abuse from the state," This paper shreds away the “drug capital” label, revealing it as a convenient scapegoat. By examining and understanding the historical aspect, the disproportionate focus of media and news, We argue that Punjab's stigma is a consequence of leadership abandoning its people, leaving a generation to trade the strength of their heritage for the fleeting oblivion of a syringe.