Few months ago, a shocking video surfaced on social media in which a young woman was seen screaming loudly under the influence of drugs after being caught by police from a lodge in a central Kerala town during a raid.

The investigation into the incident later revealed that the woman, once a bright student, was lured into the trap of drugs by the deadly mafia and was being used as a carrier to run their lucrative business.

It was one of such several incidents that shook the collective consciousness of Kerala society, prompting the government to crack down on those engaged in the dirty business in the southern state.

A new survey conducted by Kerala police among youths below 21 years of age, who were victims of substance abuse, has revealed another shocking fact that 40 percent of them were children below the age of 18.

What is more frightening is that majority of them were girl children and after falling prey to the drug cartels, they were being used as carriers.

"In earlier days, substance abuse cases were reported more in colleges, now more cases are reported in schools and girl children are becoming victims of substance abuse," says ADGP (Law and Order), M R Ajith Kumar.

Kumar, who is also the state nodal officer for the anti-drug campaign of the state police called 'Yoddhav', said women carriers are being used to lure girl children into the trap.

They first befriend the school going girls and then slowly introduce them to the dangerous world of substance abuse, Kumar told PTI.

The senior police officer said the small roadside eateries called 'thattukadas' and petty shops in the schools' vicinity are active sellers of the contraband to students.

"Women drug carriers are being used to draw girl students into the network. Many times boys are also being used to lure their girl friends into the drug trap", he said.

To eradicate the drug menace from the premises of the schools, the police had conducted 18,301 raids in small eateries and petty shops near schools in the state and registered 401 cases.

They have also arrested 462 accused, while seizing 20.97 kg of ganja, 186.38 grams of MDMA and 1122.1 grams of hashish.

When some schools tighten up their surveillance and prevent the entry of drugs, the carriers target tuition centres to draw children, the police officer said.

Counsellors attached to Child Protection Units say they have come across drug packets on the desks, benches and inside school bags during their visit to some schools for counselling victims of drug abuse.

"The prevalence of substance abuse is very high among school children. When we counsel them, they admit to have used these substances but never reveal the source from which they got the drug," Anju Dias, a counselor attached to the Thiruvananthapuram District Child Protection Unit, told PTI.

In girls aged 13 and above, sexual abuse is often connected to substance abuse.

"Boyfriends introduce them to drugs and sexually exploit them. The girls tend to fall back again to get the drug again," Dias added.

Psychologist Aswanthya S K of District Child Protection Unit, who extensively works among both sex abuse and substance abuse victims, says family and teachers play a very important role in prevention.

"Most of the time, the teachers and parents are too much into academics and fail to notice whether the child is having any deviance. Only when the child gets into trouble, the teachers and parents realize that the kind of teaching or parenting they have been giving is not appropriate for the particular child," Avanthya said.

She says the parents should maintain a close relationship with their children, observe them closely and should check their belongings, including bags thoroughly regularly.

"Most of these substances are psycho-active drugs. It can affect and alter the brain chemistry of the child. That really makes the child abnormal and on a later stage, hallucinations start to set in. Children will then have abnormal and strained relationships," she added.

Police said Kerala is now facing a situation that the Punjab had unsuccessfully fought for the past several years.

But the state government has resolved to fight the menace more vigorously, launching a massive anti-drug campaign by coordinating various departments including police and excise departments.

As a result there is a fivefold increase in the number of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) cases registered in the state and in the number of people arrested.

The police have identified 1377 black spots, which are the nerve centre of drug trafficking activities under the jurisdiction of 472 police stations in the state.

In 2022, the Kerala police registered 25,240 NDPS cases and arrested 29,514 accused compared to the 5334 cases registered in 2021 and 6704 accused arrested in 2021, reveals a document.

"There is a huge jump in seizure of synthetic drugs like MDMA in 2022. Compared to the 2.739 kg MDMA seizure in 2021, police managed to seize 14.032 kg MDMA during 2022. In 2022, 1.223 kg of brown sugar and 35.942 kg of hashish or hashish oil were also seized", it says.

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