The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Cracking down on drug addicts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 01, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Cracking down on drug addicts

There is a need for punitive and rehabilitation measures to bring drug addicts into the mainstream, says John L. Paul.

The involvement of drug addicts in three criminal incidents in the district during the past week throw light on the urgent need to combine punitive and rehabilitation measures to bring addicts into the mainstream. Last week, drug addicts killed two persons and seriously wounded a man.

Addicts are moody and they are prone to aggression and violence. Their volatile nature and desperate need for money to buy drugs force them to resort to criminal acts. The murder of a woman in Aluva, reportedly by her son, is proof of this.

In fact, `anger rate' is increasing in society, thanks to substance abuse, says S.D. Singh, clinical psychiatrist, who survived an attempt on his life by one of his patients - a drug addict.

Dr. Singh says that there is an urgent need to create an apex body comprising representatives of the police, judiciary, social-service agencies and mental health professionals to bring addicts into the mainstream. "Sending addicts to jail would only harden them. Instead, drug peddlers should be treated with a heavy hand. Things will not change unless the Government chalks out a clear policy to tackle the drug menace. The penal laws focus only on the deterrent aspect. The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act makes only a casual mention of rehabilitation. The State Government should frame an Act or at least a few rules, taking into account the precarious situation in the State that has been created mainly because of rampant unemployment," says Dr. Singh.

According to Dr. Singh, the Mental Health Act, the NDPS Act and the Vagrancy Act of India would have to be reformed to rehabilitate drug addicts.

The City Police Commissioner, Vinod Thomas, says that drug peddling in Kochi is centred around Mattancherry. It has become less rampant following the latest interpretation of the NDPS Act by the High Court, wherein even possession of a small quantity of drugs would become a non-bailable offence. Mr. Thomas adds that the narcotics wing of the police functions primarily as a supervisory mechanism. It is the local police that conduct the arrests. Addicts in Kochi use Tidigesic ampoules more than ganja, the Police Commissioner says.

A senior officer in the Excise and Anti-Narcotics Special Squad says that the enforcement personnel were a demoralised lot until the High Court reversed its order on the issue of minimum quantity of drugs that would have to be seized to make it a non-bailable offence. He points out that agents (peddlers) would have to be nabbed to give teeth to the drive against drug abuse. Enforcement agencies such as the police and the Excise (both State and Central) would have to act in tandem to curb the menace, he adds.

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Cracking down on drug addicts