Drug menace on rise among school kids: DGP

Shimla With at least one youth from every panchayat in Kullu district serving sentence for drug trafficking and peddling, increasing incidents of chemical substance abuse, especially among youths could lead to a very dangerous situation in the coming decades.

This was stated by DGP DS Manhas at a seminar organised here today by the HP Voluntary Health Association to create awareness among schools about increasing use of tobacco among the schoolchildren in the town, which according to their study was at an alarming 40 per cent.

“Surveys by the Narcotic Control Bureau indicate that the scale of drug peddling by youth from Kullu is so significant that one youth from every panchayat is lodged in a jail somewhere in the country,” he stated, adding, “We need to take corrective steps or else we will be faced with what America is grappling with.”

Manhas said though tobacco addiction by schoolchildren was definitely a cause of concern, but the challenges were far more complex and daunting. “With Himachal alone producing 100 quintals of charas and 10 quintals of Malana crème, the threat of chemical drug abuse by youths is looming large,” he said.

While advocating a multi-pronged strategy, he said it was both parents and teachers who could together help the vulnerable 10 to 16 years from going astray. “Teachers must identify absentee students and inform parents and look for abnormal physical signs and change in behaviour,” he added.

He suggested that the school, too, at its level must help channelise the talent of those who do not fare well academically, so that they do not seek solace in other distractions like drugs.

Speaking on the occasion, Principal Secretary, Education, Srikant Baldi said the figures of addiction among youths were startling and disturbing. “It was only if each one of us takes it up as a mission that there can be some check,” he added.

Principals from almost all schools of the town attended the seminar. While expressing concern over the problem of tobacco addiction among youth they felt that the provisions of cigarettes and other tobacco products (Prohibition of Advertisements and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply, Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA) were not being adhered to, especially with regard to sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of the schools.

Executive director of the HPVHA Narinder Sharma said a campaign had been launched to ensure new pictorial warnings on tobacco products by December by sending memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister, Health Minister and Sonia Gandhi.