Youth must stay away from drugs, urges AP home minister Anitha

Vijayawada: Home minister V Anitha on Friday urged students to stay away from drugs and support the state’s mission of building a drug-free Andhra Pradesh, warning that substance abuse is destroying the future of young people and their families.Addressing a programme organised at Tummalapalli Kalakshetram on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking under the Centre’s ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan’, she said the Centre and the state were jointly working to eliminate narcotics through enforcement and awareness.The minister said children between the ages of 13 and 18 were increasingly falling prey to drugs, with nearly 60-70 percent of users getting addicted because of peer pressure.

“Prevention is better than cure,” she said, urging students not to succumb to the influence of friends and reminding them of the sacrifices made by parents for their education.Highlighting the state’s anti-drug drive, Anitha said the 450-member Elite Anti-Narcotics Group for Law Enforcement (EAGLE) has cracked down on cannabis cultivation and trafficking, achieving “zero cultivation” in agency areas that had once witnessed large-scale ganja farming.

She said action had also been taken against hash oil manufacturing units.Warning that the NDPS Act provides for stringent punishment against those involved in the possession, consumption or trafficking of narcotics, the minister appealed to people to report drug-related activities through the toll-free helpline 1972, assuring that the identity of informants would be kept confidential.Women, children, differently-abled and senior citizens welfare secretary A Surya Kumari said the average age of drug abuse had dropped from around 25 years to 18 years and even below, making early intervention critical.

She urged the public to report drug abuse or trafficking either to EAGLE or through the emergency helpline 112 if they did not remember the dedicated anti-drug number.Participants took a digital anti-drug pledge by scanning a QR code and signed a “Say No to Drugs” campaign. Awareness stalls set up by EAGLE, the women and child welfare department and the health department were also inaugurated during the programme, which was attended by district officials, students and representatives of various departments.