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HT Debate | Weed out drugs from schools
With students increasingly falling prey to drugs, tricity residents want cops to ramp up patrolling, depute plainclothes officers, break the supply chain and become active on campuses; they also believe that getting the right guidance from parents, teachers & counsellors will ensure that youngsters stay on the straight and narrow
Stem the flow of drugs
Drug suppliers are increasingly targeting children and manipulating them into consuming drugs. We need more policies to interrupt the drug flow. The youth must be sensitised about the ill-effects of drug consumption. Asking them to take an oath to shun drugs is of no use as youngsters do not take it seriously. The youth must understand that drugs leech out life, and will eventually rob them of their life and future.
Namya Seth
Inculcate strong value system
A three-pronged agenda –awareness, value inculcation and curtailing distribution – is needed to check the spread of drugs in educational institutions. Firstly, students should be made aware of the side effects arising from drug consumption. Secondly, adopting theme based educational activities, distributing pamphlets and other media highlighting the adverse effect of substance use can help strengthen their value system. Inputs from intelligence agencies will play a vital role. Informers’ identity should be zealously guarded.
RK Kanwar, Mohali
Take students into confidence
Drugs are like termites, eating away at our youngsters slowly and steadily. Parents and teachers should inspire students confidence and encourage them to share their concerns and problems. An anonymous drop box should be set up to take up students’ concerns. Parents must keep tabs on students’ lifestyle, academic performance, behaviour, and the company their wards keep. Besides, security should be beefed up in all the educational organisations, hostels and PGs. In this fast tech-savvy world, spiritual lessons, yoga and meditation are the need of an hour.
Amanpreet Kaur Bains, Kurali
Ensure availability of professional help
A wide array of drugs such as heroin, marijuana and narcotics, are being freely circulated in educational institutions. They have a perilous impact on one’s thinking ability, and may cause nausea and tremors. Studies show that thousands of suicides are liked to drug and alcohol abuse. Disturbingly, the percentage of people using drugs in Punjab is higher than the national average. Admitting addicts to de-addiction centres is the need of the hour. Meditating and seeking professional help can go a long way in recovery.
Navdeep Singh
Strengthen security at educational institutions
It is disheartening to know that our youngsters, the future of our nation, are getting addicted to drugs. As per a recent study, most addicts are aged between 15 and 35 years, and all of them are unemployed. They start using to be ‘cool’, not comprehending the consequences. All educational institutions should have strict security, students should be encouraged to share their challenges and be provided counselling.
Tanishka Chandela, Chandigarh
Death penalty for drug peddling
Drugs are tightening their grip on educational institutions, which is a matter of immense concern as it effects the younger generation. A multi-pronged strategy is needed to deal with the situation. We need to initiate aggressive awareness campaigns. Teachers, parents, religious leaders, NGOs and last-but-not-the-least police officials must pool their energies to fight the menace.Police officers should strengthen their informer networks in their respective areas.Lucrative incentives for those,who help in curbing this menace, and stringent punishment for the drug suppliers can be of great help.Death penalty for confirmed offenders should be made a reality.
AK Sharma, Chandigarh
Prevention is better than cure
Rising cases of drug use across educational institutions are a matter of grave concern for the entire country, and a concerted effort is required to eradicate the menace. As prevention is better than cure, we must act now. Students, volunteers, and NGO representatives should intervene. Policing should be done on moral grounds to help save lives. Rather than focus on punishment, focus in care and cure. Education and information are the best instruments to tackle the issue. Digital tools and social media should be used to disseminate the mesage.
Shammi Bhatia, Zirakpur
Break politician-smuggler-security agency nexus
Recently, there has been a rapid increase in drug trade in the tricity area. While drugs are not being produced in the tricity, they are being smuggled into the area under the patronage of the politician, smuggler, security agency nexus. Almost everyday a number of drug peddlers are nabbed, but punishment is rarely inflicted. Awareness should be raised among school and college-going students. Holding discussions, debates, seminars, and symposiums is the need of the hour. Cops are unable to check the menace because they are understaffed, underfunded, unequipped and unaccountable. This needs to be rectified.
SK Khosla, Chandigarh
Subsidise hostels so students do not resort to peddling
Chandigarh is the education hub of northern India. Most students get a taste of independence for the first time, taking advantage of which drug peddlers lure them into a life addiction. Mostly students who are used to a lavish lifestyle take drugs as a show of status. Students with limited resources, who find it hard to scrape by in the costly city, often take to drug peddling for easy money. The administration should provide subsidised food and accommodations in educational institutions so that students do not have to resort to peddling for money. Besides, its essential to weed out the rotten apples before the rot spreads.
Avinash Goyal, Chandigarh
Empower campus police
Drug smuggling is becoming rampant in schools and colleges in the tricity, which is to the detriment of the nation at large. Mass awareness programmes is the need of the hour to check peddling. As per recent reports, the drug menace has taken a turn for the worse, especially after the Covid pandemic. Rising unemployment rate in the city youth aggravates their mental health issues, and they often resort to drugs to cope with stress and depression. Addiction often acts as a trigger for commission of other heinous crimes afflicting society. Courts have already directed cops to take stern action to curb the menace. Deployment of campus police units to check mass scale usage and supply of drugs in educational institutions is essential. Drug peddlers must be incarcerated at the earliest so as to cut-off their distributions channels.
Surbhi Negi, Zirakpur
Put drug suppliers behind bars
Cops must ensure that drug suppliers are caught and investigations are done on a regular basis. Parents must keep tabs on their teenaged children’s activities, friends and whereabouts. Youngsters should be told to leave parties where drugs are being circulated and not ride with someone who has taken drugs. Parents should keep track of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medication in their home. Establish a strong bond with your teen, which will prevent them from using drugs.
Ishita Nara
Growing sense of hopelessness to blame
Drug abuse among youngsters is essentially rooted in frustration arising from several domestic, social and economic factors such as disintegration of the traditional cohesive family structure, economic disparity, failure to live up to parents’ expectations, tough competition to get into academic institutions, and bleak prospects of landing a good job. Drugs offer them an escape. Counselling can help, but only a comprehensive plan can produce lasting results.
JL Davessar, Panchkula
Cops, youngsters must team up
Brimming with educational institutions, the tricity is home to thousands of students. Sadly, drugs are being smuggled into reputed institutions. Sensitising students is the need of the hour. Awareness camps and lectures should be organised for teens and adolescents in villages and cities so that youngsters know that drug use is akin to ending one’s life, albeit in instalments. Deploying cops in plain clothes can help crackdown on drugs. Cops and youngsters should team up to root out the menace.
Vivaan Gupta, Panchkula
Ramp up police patrolling
Chandigarh is an educational hub. Apart from students, many peddlers also enter the educational premises after being lured by easy money. Parents should constantly interact with students, and ensure that they do not start hanging around with the wrong crowd. Schools and colleges should be in constant touch with the cops and partner with them to curb the menace. Educational institutions should install CCTV cameras in every nook and corner to keep an eye on the drug peddlers. Police patrolling should be ramped up in the vicinity of schools and colleges. The education department should hire a team of counsellors to visit schools and colleges.
Sunny Dhaliwal, Chandigarh
Conduct students surveys
Educational institutions should continuously work to provide resources and support to students to stop substance abuse and rehabilitate students who are suffering from addiction. Educational institutions must also keep an eye out for drug peddlers and alert the police. They should carry out anonymous surveys to assess drug addiction among the student body. Educational institutions should also constitute anti-drug clubs to promote a drug-free lifestyle among its members. They should also have peer support groups to initiate conversations about the negative impact of drug use on physical and mental health of students. The premises must have medical health professionals like psychiatrists and psychologists.
Sanjay Chopra, Mohali
Frame strong laws
Youngsters have been peddling drugs among students for a long time. The Chandigarh administration like other states has totally failed to stem the drug supply in the city. Not just students, but even cops are involved in drug smuggling. Considering that students are the future of our nation, the administration should provide all requisite facilities to youngsters to save them from the clutches of narcotics. An anti-narcotics task force should be set up tobreak the supply chain. There should be flawless coordination between the home and education departments. The administration must frame strong laws to deter people from peddling drugs. A special team in civil clothes should keep tabs on peddlers’ activities.
Sumesh Kumar Badhwar, Mohali
Block supply channels
Land, air and sea routes are constantly being used to smuggle drugs into the country. Security forces at the border are now spotting drones almost everyday on the Punjab border. Around 1-6kg of drugs and weapons are seized. At times, small herders are arrested, but the big fish get away untouched. The smuggling cannot go on without politicians, civilians and men in khaki being complicit. Educational institutions are now becoming the hub for consumption and distribution of drugs across the country. Students are induced to use the drugs for personal pleasures and also to generate some quick money. Most of these youngsters turn into gangsters.Thousands of youngsters die every year due to drug overdose, ruining many families. The big sharks involved should get the severest punishment and the supply channels should be blocked.
Suresh Verma, Chandigarh
Reader of the week
Plug drug influx through porous borders
Despite awareness drives, seizures of consignments and think tanks’ efforts to curb the drug menace, narcotics have made in roads into educational institutions. The need of the hour is for law enforcement agencies to be more vigilant, and stop the chain of supply from the borders. In educational institutions, enforcing strict security measures is a must. Students should be regularly counselled, so that when faced with the temptation students fully understand how substance abuse develops and its consequences.
Ramesh Aggarwal
Expert takes
Counsel youngsters
Youngsters should be provided cognitive behavioural counselling, which will help identify and change destructive and disturbing thought patterns that may have a negative influence on their behaviour and emotions. Sports and social work can also keep them away from substance abuse.
Satnam Singh Sandhu, chancellor, Chandigarh University
Crackdown on suppliers
The need of the hour is to take strict actions against the main suppliers of drugs. Awareness must be raised among youngsters, and community involvement is a must. The common man must alert the police about drug peddling and consumption.
Sumer Partap Singh, DCP, Panchkula
Reduce demand for drugs
Like all commodities, drugs to follow the principle of demand and supply. While firm and effective action on part of enforcement agencies has always been the main force against drug trafficking, we also need to focus on reducing demand through awareness and education.
Amanjit Singh, zonal director, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)
Hold awareness drives regularly
Holding regular awareness programmes is the need of the hour. College staff should personally keep a tab on the activities of the students and share any suspicious activities with the police immediately.
Sandeep Garg, Mohali senior superintendent of police
Regular checking at hostels needed
Regular checking should be carried out in hostels. Awareness campaigns should be held in colleges and universities. Those found involved should be counselled.
Aayush Khatkar, president, Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC)
