Ganja is passe. Youths across the state now take synthetic drugs for a high. The rise in drug and narcotics abuse cases in Kerala has set off alarm bells. Express explores the worrying trend and finds there are no easy solutions
KOCHI: Kalpana (name changed), a 13-year-old girl from Fort Kochi, got acquainted with a person whom she used to meet on her way to school. One day, he gave her a pen requesting her to give it to her friend’s elder brother. She handed over the pen and, in turn, received a gift from him. Out of curiosity, she opened the pen and found it to be full of white pills. She had seen the pills inside the lip gloss bottle of her friend. Asked, the friend said she took the pills only on Saturdays. Kalpana couldn’t resist the urge to use the pill. The pill took her to heights of ecstasy. “I used to take these tablets when my father assaulted my mother,” she wrote in her diary.
The teenager eventually landed in the de-addiction and counselling centre of the Excise Department at Kacherippady in Kochi. She was in an extreme stage of drug addiction at the time of admission. However, she returned to normal life after effective treatment.
Ganja is passe. Youths across the state now take synthetic drugs for a high. LSD stamps, MDMA (ecstasy drug), Nitrazepam Spasmo Proxyvon Plus, Buprenorphine and Lorazepam tablets, brown sugar, heroin, hashish and charas have replaced the traditional ganja from the list of favourite contraband. Rohypnol, a sedative and a hypnotic drug, is popular among youths. Rohypnol is mixed with alcohol and used. The drug prevents girls from resisting sexual assaults.
Excise officers said youths are lured into the world of drugs through various ways by drug rackets whose tentacles are spread far and wide. “Teenagers who act as middlemen between drug rackets in Bengaluru and Goa supply MDMA to youths who want a high. For 100 ml of MDMA drugs, suppliers charge a sum of Rs 1,500 to 2,000. One LSD stamp costs Rs 1,000 and above. The intake of 7 ml of MDMA gives a high for hours together,” said Ernakulam Excise Assistant Commissioner T Ashok Kumar.
Nitrazepam tablets mainly come from Tamil Nadu. Youths in Kochi procure them by taking an OP ticket from government hospitals in the guise of meeting a psychiatrist. They write Nitrazepam in the prescription note and buy tablets from medical shops. Medical shop owners now keep a strict vigil on the supply of these tablets following strict directives from the Excise Department, said Ashok Kumar. According to the officers, Tamil Nadu is the main source of all kinds of drugs to the state. Joint Excise Commissioner N S Salim Kumar said social awareness is a must to save youths from drugs. “Parents should take special care of their wards and monitor their activities. Society should be in the forefront in combating drug menace,” he said.
According to Ashok Kumar, year-long comprehensive and continuous awareness programmes and enforcement are required to save the next generation from drug abuse. “Drug addicts come mainly from broken families. Around 60 per cent of those who approached counselling centres belong to this category,” he said.
Deaddiction, counselling centres
Data available with de-addiction and counselling centres under Vimukti Project - a social campaign by the state government to create awareness against the growing abuse of addictive substances - is an indication of youths falling prey to drugs. In Ernakulam district, around 350 persons have undergone treatment at the de-addiction centre at Muvattupuzha since its opening in February this year. Of this, 46 persons have been admitted to the inpatient department. Eight persons are still undergoing treatment. So far, 200 persons have approached counselling centres in Kochi and another 200 have undergone counselling over the telephone. Follow-ups have been conducted in 210 cases, according to the officers.
The counselling centre, first-of-its-kind in Central Kerala, functions on the first floor of the Excise Complex in Kochi. It aims to offer free counselling to school students, teachers and their parents against drug abuse. The centre is open from 6 am to 6 pm on all working days, except Sundays. There are three counselling centres - Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode - under the Vimukti programme and de-addiction centres in all districts. What’s alarming is 90 per cent of the patients comprises teenagers, even school students. The de-addiction centre at Muvattupuzha General Hospital has facilities to provide medical attention with the support of general physicians, psychiatrists and psychologists. It also provides service of trained counsellors and psychologists. “The centre mainly focuses on drug de-addiction. Of the 10 rooms, two rooms are exclusively for teenagers. Besides de-addiction, it also provides counselling for exam fear, depression and other issues among students,” said Ashok Kumar.
‘Intervention of govt depts a must’
A suggestion put forward by the officers is all government departments should take the lead in combating drug menace, apart from the police and Excise departments. Each department should conduct at least one programme once a week against drug menace. It should later be taken forward by NGOs and other organisations.