THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rcently, the police arrested three youths and detained a minor boy engaged in the sale of ganja in a rented house at Powdikonam which falls under the Sreekaryam police station limits. The adult accused were identified as Ananthu, 20, of Manchavilakom, his younger brother Vishnu, 19, and Shan, 18, of Punnamoodu. The police seized 128 small packets of ganja which weighed nearly 1kg in total.
On Wednesday, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) anti-narcotic squad at the Ernakulam Junction railway station arrested two youths, Thomas A M, 24, of Malappuram and Sreethu P Shaji, 24, of Kollam, for being engaged in the sale of ganja. They were found to be carrying 11kg of dry ganja worth Rs 5.5 lakh. The ganja was being brought from Coimbatore to Ernakulam for sale in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry areas, according to the preliminary interrogation of the accused persons.
Numbers speak
These are not isolated incidents. The youths in Kerala are falling prey to narcotic substances and are also a part of a bigger racket involved in the sale of ganja among school and college students.According to the data with the Kerala State Excise Department, 5,171 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act cases were detected till August this year in which 5,374 persons were arrested in the state. In 2018, 7,573 NDPS cases were registered in which 7,798 persons were arrested in the state. The majority of the accused are aged between 19 and 30 years.
The department has confiscated about 1,965kg of ganja until August this year and 1,884kg in the same period in 2018. Besides, 88.042kg of hashish, 46.4 grams of heroin and 18 grams of LSD have been seized till August this year, while 65.942kg of hashish, 39 grams of heroin and 6.4 grams of LSD were seized by the excise department in 2018.
“Drug peddling among teenagers in the state is a cause for concern. Peddlers rely on technology (e-commerce sites) for buying drugs. In the recent incident in Ernakulam, the accused said that there is a high demand for narcotic substances among college students. They are also using different ways to use these narcotic substances,” a source said.
What psychiatrists say
According to psychiatrists, curiosity and peer pressure in colleges have led several youngsters to fall prey to drug abuse. They now use marijuana, injectable drugs, synthetic drugs, mushrooms and other kinds of psychotropic drugs. “Six years ago, we used to get cases of alcohol addiction in which the accused were mostly above 30 years. But now, the scenario has changed and there are cases of youngsters in the 18-20 age group who are addicted to drugs. The majority are addicted to cannabis and nicotine but new substances are also being used,” said Sheena G Soman, consultant psychiatrist, Mental Health Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. Girls above 17 years who were found to be using drugs have also been reported. “Non-psychotropic substances are available online. In a week, we get about four to five cases of drug abuse where the majority are teenagers,” said Sheena. Experts also say that there are cases of children below 18 addicted to drugs. There is also a demand for separate de-addiction centres for adolescents as there are chances they might build connections with the adults housed in the mental health centres to source drugs.