CM expresses concern over growing drug abuse

He says large number of detainees, users were youth

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday expressed grave concern over the increasing youth involvement in narcotic crimes.

At a press conference, Mr.Vijayan said drug seizures jumped from 4,650 in 2020 to 16,986 by September 2022. A large number of detainees and users were youth.

Mr. Vijayan said the shift from alcohol abuse and the use of ganja to potent and possibly toxic synthetic drugs was palpable.

He said synthetic drugs posed a particularly grave threat to society. They, especially LSD ‘stamps’ and MDMA pills, were quickly concealable, transportable, and vulnerable to misdeclaration at air, sea and land border check-posts.

The law enforcement had intercepted 1,364 kg of ganja smuggled into Kerala for street sale. It confiscated 7.7 kg of MDMA and 23.73 kg of hash oil. The seizures were just the tip of the iceberg. Mr. Vijayan said an increasing number of impressionable youth were slipping into drug crime, given the sizeable profits involved.

Mr. Vijayan said the State government would initiate preventive incarceration for habitual drug offenders. The Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988 provided for imprisonment without trial for up to two years. However, law enforcers rarely used the provision.

Hence, Mr. Vijayan directed police and excise enforcers to apply the law doggedly to deter drug smugglers, peddlers, and their enablers.

Mr. Vijayan said chargesheets in drug-peddling cases should include the previous offences of the suspect to ensure successful prosecution. The courts should order drug case suspects to execute a heavy cash bond backed by sureties to ensure they would not relapse into the narcotic trade.

The Chief Minister also urged the police to collect intelligence on the drug trade. He said anti-narcotic law enforcement and social awareness campaigns would march in lockstep. LSGIs, resident associations, educational institutions, and voluntary organisations would be involved in the anti-drug drive. Mr. Vijayan also announced the compilation of a police data bank on narcotic criminals.

Mr. Vijayan defended foreign trips by Ministers. He said they would usher in development. He said former Chief Minister E.K. Naynar’s visit to Silicon Valley had resulted in the Technopark campus.