Delhi, the capital of India and also the heart of the nation is suffering from a worrisome drug abuse problem. According to surveys and reports the national capital is increasingly becoming a hotbed for both drug peddlers and drug abusers. It is surprising that this issue has remained hushed up so far, especially considering how proactively the Aam Aadmi Party had created ruckus over the drug crisis in the neighbouring state of Punjab. Prior to the 2017 state elections in Punjab which the Congress eventually won, AAP and its Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had left no stone unturned in pinning the blame for the crisis in the state on the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP coalition government. Arvind Kejriwal had targeted SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia of being involved and profiteering from the operative drug racket in the state. His apology to Bikram Majithia came much later after the elections were over. The question which remains to be answered now is which leader of AAP should be held responsible for the rising drug crisis in Delhi.
According to multiple media reports and surveys conducted throughout Delhi, many youth in the national capital are at borderline of a severe drug abuse problem. Drug de-addiction centres in Delhi are running full and the most of the drug abusers have a similar story. Most of the addicts started quite early, they first tried drugs at the tender age of 14 to 15 year old. The age group of the people admitted in these centres ranges from teens to 40-45 year old. The most common drugs are opium, smack or brown sugar, heroin, cocaine. The disturbing thing is that the identified locations for the drug peddlers operations includes more than 30 schools in the national capital. Interstate bus terminals, railway stations and prime locations such as Nehru Place, Kalkaji have become hotbeds for peddlers. In 2018 alone since the law agencies decided to initiate a crackdown on the peddlers operating in Delhi, the number of arrests have increased from 136 to 222 in the same time frame since last year. There has also been a whopping 543 percent jump in the seizure of marijuana, 443 percent jump in opium, 305 percent in heroin and 66 percent in the case of cocaine. Drugs depending on the type used can be brought easily off the streets with price ranging from a few hundred bucks to a few thousand for a couple of grams.
Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP have turned a blind eye to the problems raging on the streets of the national capital. Arvind Kejriwal has so far maintained a stoic silence over this impending crisis signalling something fishy is indeed going on under the radar. If this problem is not nipped in the bud right now it would gradually become an epidemic and none but the AAP government should be held responsible for this according to their own logic. The drug mafia needs to be stamped out quickly in order to save generations of residents in Delhi else the situation could turn grim in a matter of few years.
