THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Prompted by an alarming increase in drug-related offences, the state government will launch a month-long special anti-narcotics drive from October 2. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said a multi-pronged approach will be set in motion to stave off the deadly challenges posed by drug abuse.
The chief minister said the use of narcotics has increased exponentially and the number of cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) has skyrocketed from 4,650 in 2020 to 16,986 in 2022 (till September 15).
The number of people arrested has also increased manifold (from 5,674 in 2020 to 18,743 in 2022) (till September 15).The CM said a state-level committee chaired by him and co-chaired by the excise minister and having other ministers on board has been formed to coordinate the drive.
Anti-narcotics campaigns will be held in educational institutions on November 1. The CM added that synthetic drugs are now finding their way into educational institutions and to combat the trend effectively, the mode of investigation and the way of chargesheeting will be altered.
He added that the details of previous convictions will be added to the chargesheet filed before the court. Under Section 34 of the NDPS Act, the accused will be made to sign a bond with the government giving an assurance that he/she would not take part in such crimes in future.
As per the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, habitual drug offenders will be kept in preventive custody, he added.