The Media Coverage of Drugs and Alcohol in Punjab during COVID‐19 Pandemic

Abstract

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

Alcohol poisonings, news media, and COVID‐19 pandemic: A qualitative analysis of Punjab's hooch tragedy

“…A qualitative study of Indian news coverage in the first month of pandemic lockdown showed that reports of suicides and spurious liquor consumption due to “unplanned” alcohol ban pointed to predominance of public health‐related harms theme with fewer health‐benefits focus in media reports; and regardless of the disconnections in alcohol policy itself which remains driven by financial considerations more than health perspectives (Ghosh et al, 2020). Interesting explantions such as the critical political economy framework which attributes such media coverage of alcohol‐related issues to the shared views among media corporations, political and economic elites that tends to downplay public health perspectives (Mercille, 2017), has also been noted as signifcant reasons in other studies such as susbtances‐related coverage in Punjab following the pandemic ban (Jayachandran, 2020).…”

“…Most importantly, despite the substantial lockdown‐alcohol‐related coverage (Ghosh et al, 2020; Jayachandran, 2020), there was no mention of the impact of multiple lockdowns, bans, rising excise taxes on alcohol (which are a key part of Punjab's revenues) and COVID‐19's socioeconomic distress as factors that could have compelled the poor to seek cheaper, adulterated alternatives. The findings about health problems implied in the articles do represent the harmful consequences of hooch.…”

“…Although alcohol policies and substance use vary across different states, public health experts raised concerns about its impact upon people with chronic addictions and alcohol dependency. The ban led to a surge in Google searches on “how to make alcohol at home” (“How to” cited in Jayachandran, 2020), gray market dealings, liquor thefts, increased sales and consumption of illicit liquor and hooch ( desi daaru ). Suicides, consumption of illicit/nonconsumable alcohol, and various cases of people suffering different alcohol withdrawal symptoms were reported widely.…”

“…It was also among the few states to swiftly adopt a much‐publicized pandemic policy for drug dependents. Yet, the pandemic reporting during this period focused on Punjab's loss of revenue due to the alcohol ban, and despite the coverage of rising drug rehabilitation registrations, was not oriented toward harmful alcohol use, alcohol withdrawals and disorders (Jayachandran, 2020). The hooch tragedy happened amidst partial lockdowns, The Tribune's reporting about illicit alcohol and the state's ‘Operation Red Rose’ drive against illicit liquor trade.…”

“Are they trying to control us people?”: News media coverage of COVID-19 lockdown tobacco sales ban in South Africa

“…To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this will be the second known article to examine media coverage on tobacco bans during the pandemic lockdown, the first pertaining to India’s alcohol and tobacco bans [ 22 ]. This study investigates news media coverage of arguments and activities in relation to the South African lockdown tobacco sales ban from March to August 2020.…”