THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Sensing that the use of narcotics is affecting the youth population in a big way, the City Police have launched a week-long anti-narcotics drive that started on Monday. The campaign will run till June 26, which is observed as International Day against Drug Abuse. The main focus of the drive will be to sensitise the youths, especially students, on the hazards of drug use. For the purpose, the anti-narcotics clubs operating in 50 colleges will be put to use.
City Police commissioner P Prakash said the activities of the clubs will be ramped up so as to enhance its reach among the students’ community.To maximise the impact of anti-narcotics clubs, it has been decided not to unnecessarily increase the clubs. The existing ones, instead, will be effectively put into use.
“We are looking to increase the activities of the clubs. Most of them were formed towards the end of the academic year, so we would like to see them sound out their presence and communicate with the targeted community,” he said.
The second step will witness identification of the addicts. For this, surveys would be conducted among the students as well as the communities that are prone to drug abuse. Outside the college campuses, intelligence wing will be deployed to find out the pockets where the drug sales are rampant. Once identified, the addicts will be provided treatment at de-addiction centres. For this, the police have already secured the cooperation of five NGOs. However, enforcement will run parallel to these steps and actions will be up against the drug supplier and intermediaries.
Of late, the city has witnessed a spurt in the seizure of narcotics and the enforcement agencies believe that what has been caught is just a tip of the iceberg.“ If the seized quantity is this much, one can imagine how much would have gone through our nets and reached the end-users,” remarked another officer.
Though there have been scattered incidents of ganja being caught here, two back-to-back cases of hashish oil seizure have brought the city back into headlines for the wrong reasons.
An officer with the Special Branch said the city has got an eclectic mix of communities from different parts of the country and hence the drug consumption is only going to shoot up. “When the city grows big, this is a pitfall we have to endure. People from different backgrounds and habits come here. Enforcing law is not the only option while spreading awareness is key in containing it,” he said.