Tarn Taran, Punjab:
It is a problem that is threatening the future of generation next in rural Punjab - drug and substance abuse. According to an official survey, 65 percent of youth in and around the border area of Amritsar are addicted to alcohol and drugs.
65-year-old Gian Singh lost his son and daughter-in-law four years back. 27-year-old Baljinder was a drug addict and got AIDS after using infected needles. Then his wife got infected from him. They left behind a 7-year-old daughter. Gian Singh's other two sons are also addicts. He himself is the only bread winner in the family. "I cry very often. I am very sad. I feel like dying," laments Gian Singh.
Drugs have claimed over 20 lives in this region in the last six months. As heroin, opium and charas are very expensive, youngsters are switching to medicinal drugs, which are easily available at a chemist shop in Tarn Taran.
Dr Ranbir Singh Rana who is in charge of government's drug de-addiction centre says the menace is rapidly growing in the rural belt. "The alarming thing is it is growing in youth, in the age of 15 to 25 years, so we are getting clients who are school going children, studying in eight, ninth and tenth standard," informs Dr Ranbir Singh.
At the de-addiction centre in Tarn Taran, one can find youngsters who started using drugs when they were in their teens. They say easy availability of drugs was the reason.
"I was 16 years old when I started using drugs. I used smack and now I used heroin. It is easily available in every corner," says Jagan Deep Singh, a drug addict.
"I was in ninth class when I started (using drugs). Most of the friends consume drugs too," says Karan Bir Singh, another drug addict.
With the addiction spread reaching alarming proportions, unless urgent steps are taken, an entire generation could be lost in Punjab.