Punjab, whether the Indian state or the Pakistani province has been battling a drug epidemic for decades. From opium and heroin in the 1980s to the synthetic drug explosion of the 2000s and 2010s, the region has witnessed a devastating transformation of its social fabric. Young men and women, once the pride of a land known for its resilience and vitality, have fallen prey to addiction in alarming numbers. Despite repeated government campaigns, police crackdowns, and judicial interventions, the menace of illegal drugs in Punjab continues to persist with a stubborn ferocity that demands deeper analysis.
1980s — The Opium & Heroin Wave
The roots of Punjab’s drug crisis trace back to the 1980s, when the Afghan-Soviet War created a flood of cheap opium and heroin from the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran). Punjab, straddling key transit routes, became both a passageway and a consumer market. The introduction of cheap brown sugar heroin transformed a culture where occasional bhang or opium use had traditionally existed into a full-blown crisis. In Indian Punjab, political turmoil during the militancy era (1984–1993) allowed drug smuggling networks to flourish under the cover of instability.
1990s — Institutionalization of Trafficking Networks
The 1990s saw trafficking networks become more organized and politically embedded. Cross-border smuggling from Pakistan into Indian Punjab intensified. By the mid-1990s, UNODC and law enforcement agencies were documenting massive seizures of heroin and opium in the region. In Pakistan’s Punjab, the era saw rising poppy cultivation in border tribal areas and the spread of heroin dependency in urban centers like Lahore, Faisalabad, and Multan.
2000s — Pharma & Synthetic Drugs Enter
The 2000s marked a dangerous new chapter: pharmaceutical drugs began to be massively abused. Drugs like Tramadol, Proxyvon, and other opioid-based medications flooded markets both legally and illegally. In Indian Punjab, young people increasingly turned to ‘chitta’ (white powder — a term for heroin and synthetic opioids). Surveys from 2006–2010 estimated that millions of youth in Indian Punjab were drug-dependent. Political parties began acknowledging the crisis publicly, and it became a pivotal election issue by 2012.
2010s — The Peak of the Crisis
The 2010s witnessed the drug problem reach crisis proportions. In Indian Punjab, the 2015 AIIMS survey estimated that over 860,000 individuals were dependent on opioids, and approximately 2.3 lakh (230,000) were injecting drug users one of the highest rates in India. The HIV/AIDS co-epidemic among intravenous drug users became a public health emergency. In Pakistan’s Punjab, a survey by the Pakistan Narcotics Control Board in 2013 estimated that over 6.5 million people were drug users in the country, with Punjab contributing the largest share.
2017–2020 — Political Attention & Anti-Drug Campaigns
In Indian Punjab, the 2017 state elections were fought heavily on the drug issue. The AAP and Congress both promised to eliminate drugs within four weeks/months. The Congress government under Captain Amarinder Singh launched Special Task Forces (STFs) and conducted mass arrests. Between 2017 and 2020, tens of thousands of drug-related FIRs were registered, and hundreds of drug peddlers were arrested. In Pakistan’s Punjab, PM Imran Khan’s government (2018–2022) also launched ‘Naya Pakistan’ anti-drug drives, setting up drug courts and rehabilitation centers.
2021–2025 — Continuing Crisis Despite Crackdowns
Despite continuous law enforcement activity, drug availability did not significantly decrease. The AAP government in Indian Punjab, elected in 2022 under Bhagwant Mann, intensified the crackdown seizing drugs worth crores, arresting hundreds of peddlers, and expanding de-addiction centers. By 2024, Punjab Police reported seizing thousands of kilograms of heroin and smack annually. Yet independent assessments continued to find widespread drug use, particularly among youth in rural areas and border districts like Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, and Ferozepur. In Pakistan’s Punjab, the DRAP (Drug Regulatory Authority) and ANF intensified monitoring, but the sheer volume of cross-border trafficking from Afghanistan — the world’s largest opium producer until the Taliban ban in 2022 — continued to pose overwhelming challenges.
Key Data & Performance Indicators
According to the AIIMS 2015 survey, Punjab (India) had approximately 860,000 opioid-dependent individuals 2.3 lakh of whom were injecting drug users. Punjab Police reported seizing over 600 kg of heroin in 2022–23 alone. Between 2017 and 2022, over 1 lakh drug-related FIRs were filed in Indian Punjab. The National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) data shows Punjab accounts for disproportionately high drug-related hospital admissions relative to its population. In Pakistan’s Punjab, UNODC estimated over 7 million drug users nationally by 2023, with Punjabi urban centers among the most affected. ANF (Anti-Narcotics Force) seized over 100 metric tonnes of drugs in Pakistan in 2022–23, yet experts note this represents only a fraction of total trafficking volume.
Why Has the Drug Problem Not Been Eliminated?
The persistence of the drug crisis in Punjab is not a failure of effort alone it is a systemic failure rooted in multiple overlapping causes. First, the geographical reality: Punjab in both India and Pakistan shares borders with regions that are global epicentres of drug production Afghanistan for opioids, and vast porous borders through which contraband flows unchecked. Border management, despite massive investment, cannot seal every route when the economic incentives of trafficking are so enormous.
Second, political-criminal nexus: multiple investigations, judicial observations, and media reports have consistently pointed to links between drug traffickers and local politicians, police officers, and bureaucrats. In Indian Punjab, several sitting and former politicians were named or investigated in drug cases. As long as protectors of the trade exist within the system, enforcement efforts remain compromised from within. The system arrests small peddlers while kingpins often operate with impunity.
Third, economic despair and unemployment: Punjab, despite its agricultural prosperity, suffers from deep rural unemployment, a stagnant industrial sector, and an agrarian distress crisis. Young people with no economic future are the primary recruitment pool for both drug trafficking networks and drug addiction. Addressing the drug crisis without addressing economic inequality is like treating symptoms while ignoring the disease.
Fourth, inadequate rehabilitation infrastructure: while both Indian and Pakistani Punjab have opened de-addiction centers, the capacity is vastly inadequate relative to the scale of addiction. Treatment is often punitive rather than therapeutic, and social stigma prevents many from seeking help. Without robust rehabilitation — counseling, mental health support, skills training, and community reintegration recovered addicts relapse and fuel demand that keeps the trade alive.
Fifth, money laundering and economic integration: drug money has been laundered into real estate, transport, and legitimate businesses across Punjab. This economic integration makes the trade extremely difficult to uproot without disrupting broader economic sectors. Law enforcement focuses on seizures and arrests but financial investigations targeting drug money remain insufficient.
Finally, cross-border and international dimensions: Punjab’s drug problem is inseparable from global and regional geopolitics. Afghanistan’s dominance in opium production, instability in Pakistan’s tribal regions, and transnational trafficking networks that span continents mean that no state-level or even national-level solution can be fully effective in isolation. Regional cooperation between India and Pakistan, and involving Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asian states is essential but has been almost non-existent due to geopolitical tensions.
Conclusion
Punjab’s drug crisis is one of the most tragic and complex social emergencies of South Asia. Decades of timeline show neither neglect nor absence of effort governments have tried, police have seized, courts have convicted yet the crisis endures. This is because the solutions offered have been largely punitive and reactive rather than preventive and structural. A genuine solution requires honest confrontation of political corruption, massive investment in youth employment and education, expansion of humane rehabilitation services, community-led awareness, and regional diplomatic cooperation on cross-border trafficking. Until these deeper causes are addressed alongside enforcement, Punjab will remain trapped in this devastating cycle