Punjab�s reluctance to treat the drug situation as a full-blown crisis is partly because the state government itself is dependent on revenue from alcohol sales. Roughly 8,000 government liquor stores operate in Punjab, charging a tax on every bottle � an excise that represents one of the government�s largest sources of revenue. India�s comptroller found that liquor consumption per person in Punjab rose 59 percent between 2005 and 2010.
�We are promoting addiction in our state,� said Dr. Manjit Singh Randhawa, the city of Amritsar�s civil surgeon, a job akin to chief medical officer. �I�m getting calls from people saying they have lost their children, they have lost their breadwinners. In every village, people are falling prey to this drug abuse.�
