CM announces massive offensive against drugs, to act mercilessly against peddlers and users
If in 2021 5334 cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, by August this year 17,834 cases have already been registered.
Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday announced a major two-pronged offensive against the alarming rise in the use of narcotic drugs especially among the youth. The Opposition UDF pledged unconditional support.
On the one hand, Kerala will strengthen the implementation of existing laws so that habitual offenders could be held in preventive detention and even get a death sentence. Simultaneously, the government would launch a comprehensive state-level awareness campaign that will focus mainly on throwing protective social cordons around educational institutions.
"There should be certain changes in the way narcotic cases are registered," the Chief Minister told the Assembly while responding to an adjournment motion moved in the Assembly by Congress MLA P C Vishnunath on growing use of psychotropic substances. While moving his motion, Vishnunath painted a grim and scary picture of drug use in Kerala. "In the last one-and-a-half years, 3933 persons have been admitted to de-addiction centres in Kerala. More than 40 per cent of this are teenagers below 18 years," he said.
