Expressing serious concern over alarming rise in use of habit forming drugs and other illegal drugs, physician Kutikuppala Surya Rao on Thursday said the city was emerging as a hub for drug abuse.
Addressing the students of Aditya Degree College here on the occasion of International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, he said according to a moderate estimate, 50,000 to 60,000 drug abuse cases of various kinds were reported in the city.
“In the recent past several episodes of mixing drugs in chocolates and samosas and selling at schools and colleges and in the vicinity of Andhra University have come to light,” he pointed out.
Selling of banned codeine products, cough syrups, pentozacoine injections in MVP Colony and Gopalapatnam had become regular in spite raids by Drug Control authorities, he said.
In India annually Rs.20,000-crore business was flourishing. Unless parents at home, teachers in schools, NGOs, opinion leaders and de-addiction centres work together, it would be difficult to curb the menace, he opined.
Quoting a UN study, Dr. Rao said about 230 million people or 5 per cent of the world’s population, used illegal drugs at least once in 2010.
