Punjab (region)

Express Punjab - version English

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• published: 20 Jun 2016
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EXPRESS | PUNJAB Express Punjab is a documentary, which looks at the region of Punjab, firmly in a grip of a drug epidemic with a staggering 70% of its youth, estimated to be on drugs. India and Pakistan maybe at war but there is a commercial relationship that binds them with a drug route starting from Afghanistan to Pakistan and then Punjab ending up in the big cities of India. And with every 3rd family in Punjab having relatives in the UK/Europe or USA sending money home to their families they are unwittingly sending money for drugs and not food. The truth is that Punjab is in a grip of a drug epidemic – and a main university in route on the borders discovering where the region has claimed that a staggering 70% are estimated to be on drugs such as they come from, who are the suppliers heroin, smack and pharmaceutical medical drugs. It is a problem that is and who are the addicts. The threatening the future of the next generation From the ages of 17 – 87 the Punjabi men are destroying their lives and their families as this problem continues to be brushed under the carpet by a state that is in total denial. Express | Punjab takes a hard-hitting look at this phenomenon asking difficult questions such as why is this happening? How is it happening? What are the legal authorities doing to stem the tide of this ever-increasing crime? And to what extent is the police turning a blind eye and in some cases even colluding with the drug dealers?  A Man who lost his Son - The documentary looks at the real human suffering that drug users cause and how their actions destroyed their families and relationships. Take for instance 87-year- old Paramjeet Singh (left) whose 25-year- old son Bala took an overdose and left his family in financial dire straits, as he was the only real breadwinner. His father reveals that he never got his son married because of his drug habits and he did not wish to see his daughter-in law become a widow at such an early age. Amarjeet Kaur (A Widow) - 45-year-old Amarjeet Kaur tells us how her husband a farmer a habitual smack user died after an overdose leaving her and the two young children penniless. They are now left to fend for themselves. Former drug addict and now editor-at-large of Tehelka (Sting) magazine Vijay Simha puts into historical context the origin of the problem explaining how Punjab became a haven for drug peddlers from Afghanistan in the late 80’s catering for the Vijay Simha (Editor-at-large, Tehelka Magazine) “ ‘Brown sugar addict’. He blames the then Indian government who were totally unable to get to grips with the problem and let it spiral madly out of control. He further added ‘It’s like a locust attacking a field there’ nothing left. It’s totally hollow and that is totally what is happening in Punjab and it’s not something that anyone will accept” Iqbal Singh, a respected current Senior Superintendent of police makes the startling revelation that “10% of the Police force is drug addicts themselves... They are mixed up with the drug peddlers” he says and the rest are corrupt taking money from the traffickers”. With that kind of corruption and collusion the police do not have a chance to even skim the surface of the problem. But the most startling piece of footage is of two 17 and 18 year old (names unknown) ‘shooting up’ with pharmaceutical drugs purchased from the local chemist for a Rs. 100/- ( £1.20) . With alarming honesty and no less bravado these two young users show us Left: Aftershock Right: 17 and 18 year old shooting up how they ‘shoot up’ drugs to get high up to 4 times a day and that it is the local pharmacist who has supplied them with the package which include anaesthetics and painkillers and a new needle. This cheap fix combination satisfies their habits and we see first hand how they do it and we witnessed first hand their feeling of getting high. They pour scorn on the ‘respectable pharmacist’ who without batting an eyelid sells them drugs and how the local police not only turn a blind eye but actively cut themselves a piece of the action from the sale of these drugs. Almost all their schoolmates are also addicts they tell us and the reality is that unless they stop this horrendous drug abuse they will die. But the problem of drug addiction is not confined to the young. Take for instance Grandfather and a agricultural worker 70 year old Singh who spends up to a 3rd of his daily wage in buying bukhi (A poppy husk) which he claims, it give him energy and puts him on a perpetual high. He simply cannot work without taking his daily intake of four doses a day. “In 10 years time the butter chicken will still be there so will the bhangra but the young people of Punjab wont be” Vijay Simha Produced by: Ranbir Kaloya Directed by: Gaurav Bavdankar