The insidious menace of drug abuse in Punjab continues to ruin lives as a woman in Amritsar had to chain her daughter at home to keep her from taking drugs. Amritsar MP and Congress leader Gurjeet Singh Aujla on Tuesday visited the family and assured them of arranging proper medical treatment.
The woman reportedly had sought help from various government de-addiction centres and even reached out to authorities, before finally resorting to a more extreme measure.
“It is an unfortunate incident. I have assured the family that proper treatment will be given to the daughter. I have directed the doctors to treat the affected girl at her home,” news agency ANI quoted the MP as saying.
The mother, however, said that she was forced to take this step due to the ‘easy availability of drugs in the area’ and accused the de-addiction facilities in the city of providing ‘poor treatment’.
She had reportedly admitted her daughter to one such centre thrice, but the doctor released her in a matter of four-five days.
According to the 50-year-old mother, her daughter got addicted to drugs when she went for a job in a beauty parlour in Chandigarh.
In the last two-and-a-half-years, more than 160 people have died due to drug overdose. A 2015 survey conducted by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, AIIMS, put the figure of dependent users in need of treatment at 3.2 lakh.