Tribune news service
Deepkamal Kaur
Kapurthala, October 6
The issue of indiscriminate drug use in Punjab has come to the fore again after video of a young addict lying on a roadside bench in a public place in Kapurthala went viral this morning.
The video of a 22-year-old married woman would have been captured by a social activist from the city while she was traveling on the road. In the video, she admits to using heroin and being addicted for the past three years. She says her husband is in jail and her parents are gone. She shares that she became addicted to drugs after being in the company of other addicted young women.
Drug dealers sell in the open
- The video of a 22-year-old married woman would have been captured by a social activist. In the video she admits to having used heroin and being addicted for three years.
- Says she became addicted to drugs after hanging out with addicted women
- She says she often finds drug dealers standing in Chowk in the town of Mehtabgarh.
A bigger reveal he makes is that he wanders around the village of Mehtabgarh and often finds drug dealers standing in the chowk there. She says that she seeks help from people to defray the cost of heroin. She also says that she is already taking treatment for her addiction.
Shortly after the 2.13-minute video went viral, the local administration sprang into action. She was readmitted to the Kapurthala Civilian Hospital Addiction Elimination Center, where she had previously received treatment. Dr. Sandeep Bhola, Kapurthala Deputy Medical Commissioner, posted a video saying that he was already receiving treatment at the OOAT Center. “She came to us two or three days ago for treatment and she had been insisting that they admit her,” he said.
readmitted to hospital
We did gynecological tests and have readmitted her to the hospital. —Dr. Sandeep Bhola, Dy Medical Commissioner
“We admitted her but there were certain complications since she was five months pregnant. Her Hb level was too low and it was not possible to manage her alone in the center. We asked the attendees (not family) who had come to stay behind. We told them that once she was stable, she could be admitted to the detox center. However, the woman chose to leave the center with her assistants. We did gynecological tests on her and readmitted her,” Dr. Bhola said, adding that the center had five other addicted women admitted and had treated 200 women, mostly addicted to heroin, in recent years.
Meanwhile, Kapurthala police carried out a cordon and search operation in Mehtabgarh, known as a drug hotspot. Kapurthala SSP Navneet Bains said: “We had also carried out a similar operation there last month.” She said: “The woman’s husband has nine cases against her, including three under the NDPS Act.”