12th August 2023, Mumbai: According to government data accessed by News18, the consumption of synthetic drugs has seen a sharp increase, and the value of the seizure of drugs has increased by a whopping 333 per cent between 2020 and 2023.
Parents beware! There could be suspicious individuals lurking outside your children’s schools who may actually be drug dealers, looking to convert these youngsters into possible consumers of banned substances.
Police in Bengaluru have seen a steep rise in the consumption of drugs, especially by young school children and college students and have been conducting drives to create awareness among teachers, parents, and the children themselves.
There are a number of factors that contribute to drug use among young people, including peer pressure, curiosity, and mental health issues. Drug dealers often target young people because they are more vulnerable to addiction.
Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda told News18 in an exclusive interview that while they have been cracking down on drug peddlers and their supply chain, they have also observed a sharp rise in seizures, indicating a spike in consumption.
“The number of arrests have also increased. Our police department has been creating awareness among schoolchildren and college-going students. We have noted that the usage of illegal drugs has begun spreading among children and there has been a significant increase in the numbers,” he said.
Shops Banned
He explained that while shops selling tobacco are banned within 100 meters of educational institutions, they still find that drugs like cannabis somehow find their way into the hands of these young children and young adults (between the ages of 18-25).
“In some of our raids, we have found that cannabis is being sold near educational institutions. We are booking cases and also making the institutions’ management aware of such suspicious activities. Cannabis is usually sold in the form of cigarettes and we have seen youngsters getting attracted to such drugs,” he said.
Dayananda emphasised that the aim of the police is not to stigmatise or alienate drug users, but to help them get unhooked. “Our approach is such that it is not ‘us versus drug users’, but ‘us versus drug lords’,” the city police commissioner said.
A recent Incident in Mangaluru, where two shopkeepers were found selling chocolates laced with ganja, highlights the issue. The police team found a combined total of 120 kilograms of the laced chocolates.
But how did this get detected? Parents found that their children were constantly demanding a special chocolate named ‘Bang’ which was priced at Rs 20 per piece.
Sudden behavioural changes in the children and the need to eat those chocolates at regular intervals raised a red flag. A group of parents then approached the Mangaluru Police which resulted in the raids and the recovery.
Addicted or Not? How to Detect
How do you determine whether a person is showing signs of addiction? Doctors say parents need to look out for abrupt changes in the child’s behaviour, mood swings, increased anger, increased secretiveness, and a sudden decline in school grades.
Dr Jayant Mahadevan, a de-addiction specialist and assistant professor at the Centre for Addiction Medicine, NIMHANS, says that they have been seeing an uptick in certain substances, particularly among young adults.
ASC Priya