Punjab to introduce urine test every 6 months for dispensing de-addiction drugs

The Punjab government will soon introduce urine tests every six months for dispensing de-addiction drugs to check abuse, said Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday.

During his #AskCaptain Facebook Live session, Singh said his government would soon introduce urine tests every six months to ensure that there is no diversion of the medicine.

"While the government has already allowed seven-day take-home for the de-addiction medicines, bulk quantities would not be handed over as this has the potential for abuse and can be counterproductive," he added.

There has been a sharp increase in the number of patient visits and medicine distribution at the Out Patient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) centres per day over the past three months in view of the COVID restrictions, which have affected the availability of drugs for addicts, said a release of the state government.

"The number of patients coming for treatment rose three times from July 2018 to June 20. A total of 1,03,553 patients came for medicine in the month of July 2019 whereas this number jumped to 3,26,301 till June 20 in just one year," it said.

( With inputs from ANI )