Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has said that an international drug cartel is suspected to be behind the menace of drug abuse which is reaching alarming proportions among the new generation in the State.
“The government is committed to busting this cartel and its links in the State,” Mr. Chennithala said while addressing a gathering on the Kollam beach on Friday evening after inaugurating Unarvu-2015, a campaign of the City Police to take forward the State government’s year-long “Clean Campus, Safe Campus” programme.
Mr. Chennithala said the aim of the government was to ensure that the younger generation should be completely free from drug abuse. “Since the police have clear information that drug peddlers find campuses as fertile ground for their operations, the police will not hesitate to enter campuses, including hostels, to carry forward the campaign,” he said.
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He said that medical stores had been given strict instructions not to sell intravenous syringes to students. This was because many among the younger generation had started administering narcotic substances with the help of syringes. “Even opioids used as a pain killer for caner patients were being abused extensively as a narcotic substance,” he said.
Mr. Chennithala said that since the launch of the programme, the police had carried out 29,307 raids on the drug mafia which resulted in the arrest of 6,140 persons and registration of 6,285 cases.
“Never before in the history of Kerala has such a major crackdown against drug abuse been launched,” he said.
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Earlier, students from various schools in the city organised a rally from Chinnakada to the Kollam beach to herald the launch of Unarvu-2015.
The inaugural function was presided over by P.K. Gurudasan, MLA.
City Police Commissioner V. Suresh Kumar welcomed the gathering and Assistant Commissioner of Police K. Lalji presented a report on Unarvu-2015.