Punjab, a border state in Northern India, has faced a persistent substance-use problem that has driven political agendas and policy directives since many years. Punjab is the only state that tops in all type of substance abuse from alcohol, opioid, cannabis sedative, and amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), with risky injecting drug use patterns (Ambekar et al, 2019). In fact the Central government was all set to assist Punjab, where 18 of its 22 districts are most affected, as part of a National Action Plan for "Nasha Mukt Bharat" (addiction-free India) (Vishnoi, 2020), when it hit an unexpected roadblock in the form of the new COVID-19 pandemic. When COVID-19 cases began to rise in India in March 2020, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-days nationwide lockdown to mitigate its spread. Punjab was one of the first to impose a curfew on March 23 after people were found rampantly flouting lockdown orders. Fears over community transmission further prompted the extension of lockdown to May 31, 2020. Apart from the pandemic, Punjab faced the added burden of dealing with its other public health crisis of drugs and alcohol-use. The disruption of regular movement affected the legal trade in alcohol and tobacco (that fetches 13%-20% excise duties), and illicit drugs. On April 1, a week after the lockdown, the Ministry of Home Affairs' national directives banned sales of liquor, tobacco, and use of smokeless tobacco products in public places. Soon, alcohol and drugs became some of the most newsworthy COVID-19 lockdown stories. Numerous memes, tweets, and social media videos on alcohol pangs found space in news. Punjab's Chief Minister was widely quoted in the national media as saying that the "only good thing" out of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis was the disruption of drug supply and smuggling into the state (Ghazali & Roy, 2020). This article, therefore, examines post-lockdown news pertaining to drugs, tobacco, and alcohol in Punjab. News is central to anti-addiction agenda-setting and health advocacy, particularly in the communication of crucial health information and risk during pandemics. This review reveals the broader discourse about addictive substances through exploring the complex ties of governance, economy, rehabilitation drives, policing, and health concerns that mediate media coverage of substance-use crisis during a pandemic. The article relies upon qualitative analysis specifically inductive thematic analysis to identify themes emerging through the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Online news and reports were collected from English national newspapers such as The Indian Express, The Hindu, Hindustan Times, Times of India; regional and