Young Generation in Drug Addiction

25.05.2023

Young Generation in Drug Addiction  ,  Daily Current Affairs ,  RACE IAS : Best IAS Coaching in Lucknow 

Mains Exam: General Studies 3

(Internal Security: Organized Crime, Drug Mafia)

Reference :

  • Recently, the Home Minister has given a pledge to the Anti-Drug Task Force of the States and Union Territories to make the country drug-free by 2047. After Corona, the tendency of drug addiction has increased among the youth of the country.
  • The demon of dangerous drugs is challenging the country that if you can save, then save your young generation.

Current status of Drug Addiction in Young Generation:

  • According to the report of the independent organization 'Think Change', drug consumption has increased rapidly in the country after the Corona period.
  • In this report, the maximum number of children and adolescents of ten to seventeen years of age have been expected to be affected.
  • Easy access to drugs has reached middle and high schools. The trend of sending children to hostels and coaching institutes at a young age and laxity in law enforcement in the country have pushed children and adolescents closer to drugs.
  • It is estimated that the drug business in the country is worth more than fifteen lakh crore rupees every year. Three percent of the country's population is completely in the grip of dangerous drugs.
  • Now not only Mizoram, Punjab, Delhi, where the number of drug addicts is maximum, there is easy availability of banned drugs in every corner of the country, even small villages and towns.
  • Last year, 3000 kg of dangerous drugs were seized from Mundra port in Gujarat, 322 kg from Delhi and Lucknow, in which medical, engineering, IIT, IIM, fashion designing students were added in the supply chain.
  • The speed with which the IT sectors developed in Kota, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, the same speed the drug trade spread in them.
  • According to a survey conducted by AIIMS in the National Capital Region, 90,0000 dangerous drug addicts have been identified in Delhi alone. Of these, 39 percent are youths in the age group of 19 to 38 years.
  • 1.48 crore children and adolescents in the age group of 10 to 17 years are consuming alcohol, opium, cocaine, cannabis, ganja in the country. Addiction to e-cigarettes and 'psychotropic drugs' among school children has increased rapidly.
  • Websites are selling drugs online unabated, while some drug dealers in cities and towns are providing it.
  • Pan-tea shops and other shopkeepers located near schools and colleges have made the sale of such items a source of illegal income.
  • 'Psychotropic drugs' are being made easily available by most of the hotel and restaurant owners in small cities and towns to the students at party events.
  • According to the data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), where in the year 2019, 7 thousand 800 people troubled by drug addiction committed suicide, in the year 2021 this figure has increased to 10 thousand 560.
  • Suicidal tendency due to intoxication has increased at the rate of 20 percent in 2 years. The report of school children in Punjab shows that every third male student and tenth female student of the state has become a victim of drug addiction.
  • According to the Department of Social Justice, 14.6 percent of the total population of the country is in the grip of drugs, out of which three percent are addicted to dangerous drugs. If governments and common people do not warn against the fast spreading poison in the country, then by 2050 half of the youth population will be in the grip of drugs.
  • Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Odisha are major supplier states of hemp.
  • Currently the two major drug producing regions, the Golden Crescent (Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan) and the Golden Triangle (Thailand-Laos-Myanmar) are hubs of illicit drug trafficking to India.
  • Earlier, this illegal trade which used to be done through camels is now being done through sea route and drones. From Kutch's Mundra and Jakhau ports, drugs are reaching every nook and corner of the country via the Surajwari and Samkhiyali highways.
  • Last year, the Gujarat ATS seized 120 kg of narcotics, worth Rs 600 crore in the international market, from a small village Jhijhuda in Morbi district.
  • Recently, under a joint operation of NCB and Navy, 2500 kg of narcotics worth twelve thousand crore rupees have been recovered from a Pakistani boat off the coast of Kochi, Kerala.
  • According to the World Drug Report, 2022, India had the fourth largest quantity of opium seized in 2020 at 5.2 tonnes and the third largest quantity of morphine seized in the same year at 0.7 tonnes.
  • In the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, South and Eastern states, chemical drugs mentha, LSD, meow-meow, white powder, tickets have reached children and adolescents.

Tips for Prevention of Iintoxicating Drugs:

  • The law made for the prevention of narcotics in the country is proving to be weak in the prevention of this illegal business. That's why the police administration should be modernized with the making of strict laws.
  • Provisions of punishment should be quick and effective for those involved in the business of narcotic drugs.
  • Coordination should be established among the security agencies of the states to stop the movement of drugs from the borders of the states in the country.
  • There is a need to stop giving protection to drug mafias who spread political hatred in the state governments.
  • The availability of means of communication in remote areas should be increased.
  • There is a need to increase the number of women police personnel in the country to control women gangs in drug trade. The courts of the country are in favor of arresting the female criminal by the female police only, while there is only one female policeman on 2800 women across the country.
  • States do not have enough laboratories for rapid drug testing. Testing of seized material takes months, resulting in inaccurate results. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the construction of laboratories equipped with modern equipment.

Government's Efforts for the Prevention of Intoxicating Drugs:

  • Launch of NIDAAN and NCORD portal
  • Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940
  • Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, (NDPS) 1985
  • Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (PITNDPS), 1988.
  • Operation Garuda
  • In order to establish control over drug mafia, CBI with the help of Interpol and NCB had launched Operation Garun in eight states. With the help of this operation, 6600 suspects have been arrested along with huge seizures of heroin, charas, mephedrone, smack, injectable drugs, ganja, opium.

Conclusion:

  • According to an estimate, drug consumption has increased rapidly in the country after the Corona period. Increasing population, lack of employment, snatching of jobs from small businessmen, stress at workplaces, burden of education on children, increasing loneliness of children and teenagers due to breakdown in joint families are pushing them towards drugs.
  • If the governments are still not serious, then the coming generations will be prone to crime with mental disabilities.
  • The Home Minister has assured the Anti-Drug Task Force of the States and Union Territories to make the country drug-free by the year 2047, but if these agencies and the police were so alert and honest, the situation would not have reached here.

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Mains Exam Question

Explaining the current situation of drug addiction among the young generation in the country, suggest measures to prevent it.