HYDERABAD: Former Chief Minister of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh K Rosaiah on Saturday said awareness regarding the ill-effects of psychotropic drugs, which has come to the fore now, should have been done many years ago.
“On one side, we all talk about the ill-effects of alcohol and on the other side, we promote it. I read that more than 1,000 children, as young as 13 have been indulging in LSD and MDMA. It is time we intervene and prevent it from happening further,” he said addressing a gathering of 200 students from various educational institutions on the topic ‘drug abuse and civil society’ in the city.
The 84-year-old touched upon the deteriorating quality of education system, where children are being restricted to four walls of a room and that too is leading them to look for harmful alternatives like alcohol or drugs. Madhubhushi Sridhar, information commissioner, Central Information Commission, pointed that the hypocrisy of the film industry which makes inspiring movies for the silver screen needs to be looked at critically.
“Superstars sell all the harmful things and we consume them with no scrutiny. Are we a ‘civil’ society after all?” he questioned. He encouraged all the students to look at things critically. “Capitalism is consuming us. You need to question things and not be blind consumers,” said Sridhar.