Sukhbir Singh Badal government has demanded for calling the youth of Punjab "drug addicts".
With the Opposition making 'drug menace' a huge issue in the upcoming Punjab elections, the state government today released results of dope tests conducted recently on police recruits, and slammed Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress.
Demanding an apology from AAP and the Congress for calling the youth of Punjab "drug addicts", Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said "Only 1.27 per cent of the tested 3.75 lakh youth have tested positive for drug abuse."
Baba Farid Health University vice chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur, whose institution conducted the tests, said the objective of the study was to identify incidence of drug use in youth.
"We decided to test candidates presenting themselves for recruitment as constables. Urine samples were taken using standard USFDA approved kits at a cost of Rs three crore and 3.75 lakh persons were tested across the state," he said.
The vice chancellor said only 4501 candidates tested positive for drug use. Some candidates who had used performance enhancers were given an opportunity to get re-tested and 1672 candidates cleared the subsequent test.
Dr Bahadur said what was most significant was that the incidence of drug use in youth in Punjab was less than the national, Asian and global averages.
Quoting a UNODC study, the vice chancellor said the global and Asiad percentage of opiod use was 0.3 per cent and the use in India was 0.7 per cent. He said in comparison to this the opiod use percentage revealed in the study on police recruits was only 0.33 per cent.
He said similarly against global cannabis percentage use of 3.5 per cent, Asiad use of 1.6 per cent and national use of 3 per cent, the percentage opiod use revealed in Punjab was only 0.42 per cent.
Meanwhile, giving details of the action taken against drug smugglers and drug trafficking, senior police officer Suresh Arora said Punjab had been the most effective in taking action against drug smugglers.