Punjab’s drug menace: Why it is hard to curb

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After Parvinder Singh Jhota, an anti-drug crusader, was shot dead on October 13 in Punjab’s Mansa town, protesters demanded resignation of Chief Minister and state Director General of Police, blaming the government in failing to eradicate the drug menace in Mansa on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

As the 2027 Punjab Assembly election approaches, the drug menace has yet again emerged as the central campaign issue, even as policing experts and academic researchers believe that eliminating the problem, which has persisted for decades, is extremely difficult, given the profitability of the trade, the established network of smugglers and the alleged involvement of police and political patronage behind it.

In the run-up to the election, major political parties, including the Congress, the BJP, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have made drug menace a key campaign plank. While the ruling party has asserted that eradicating drugs is its “biggest priority”, the Opposition has accused the AAP government of failing to curb the drug menace and, instead, patronising the drug trade.

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