B.C.: Punjabi students overdosing at alarming rate but government failing to show numbers, say local community leaders
by The Canadian Parvasi
Local community leaders from the Punjabi diaspora are asserting that international students from Punjab are dying from overdoses at an alarming rate, especially in Surrey, but the government fails to track the problem.
The Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran in Surrey, BC, has incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars to help transport bodies of Punjabi International students back to India, according to Giani Narinder Singh, president of the Gurdwara.
“80% of the reports we receive, we have noted that 80% of the deaths are drug-related,” stated Singh, while speaking to media outlets.
“Some have never tried it and try it for the first time, some could have been doing it in India as well before they do it here—there can be many reasons for this, you can’t just look at it from one angle…They don’t know how much is in the drugs, it could be the first time they tried it and on the first time, they overdose,” he continued, adding that close ones of those dead from overdoses often tell people that the students died in their sleep or from a cardiac arrest.
Others prominent in the community opine that the government may not release the data in order to not discourage other potential international students intending to arrive in Canada.
“The funeral homes, they can show the numbers. I can say every single week, there are one or two international student deaths that are reported in Surrey. On Monday, we have another funeral for a young man who overdosed,” stated Neeraj Walia, Secretary and Operational Head of the Guru Nanak Food Bank, to news outlets.
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