Network of drugs that keeps spreading

Police and Excise are struggling to break the chains that keep the young generation in the net of drug addiction. A large quantity of intoxicants are arriving in the state not only from different parts of the country but even from abroad. Reports of highly lethal substances such as MDMA arriving even through the mail are extremely worrying. Drugs worth more than 40 crores were seized recently. A massive awareness campaign against drug use is taking place from the school level under the auspices of the government and under the leadership of organizations. There has also been a significant increase in the number of people arrested for selling drugs. From January to May 2726 people were arrested in connection with the sale of drugs in the state. This is proof of how widespread drug use has become.

The worrisome thing is that even as the government is strengthening the fight against drug addiction, its networks are spreading even to villages. The main reason why mafias thrive is because the political conditions are good enough for drug mafias to operate unimpeded and grow their own empires. The least important people behind the sale of drugs are often caught while the big ones get away with it. High political connections help them. Even if the middlemen get caught, politicians will be there to rescue them.

In many parts of the country, organized violence, murders and social problems are fueled by drug gangs. These gangs often go to the point of killing each other. In the Thiruvananthapuram district itself, some of the incidents that took place during the last two weeks were due to a dispute over the splitting of profits from the drug trade. Experience has shown that even though many measures have been taken to strictly prevent the sale and use of drugs around schools and colleges, they have not been effective. The scary thing is that mafias in the field are making the school and college students themselves the carriers to increase the sale of drugs.

Controlling drug mafias is a very difficult task, not just here but anywhere. It can be achieved only if there is political will and sincere cooperation of the people. All political movements should pledge not to help drug mafias under any circumstances. Leaders must ensure that their followers and activists do not fall prey to drug dealers. According to police records, there is an eight-fold increase in drug cases in the state in a year. Just having anti-drug units in schools and colleges will not do the job. We should be able to identify drug addicts and discourage them from this evil habit. Politicians will be the ones who can effectively lead the fight against drug addiction at the local level. People are afraid to report information related to the sale of drugs to the authorities for fear of retaliation. For this, it would be good to introduce a system where outsiders cannot identify those who give information to the police and excise.