Form anti-drug vigilance groups in colleges, Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner urges students

Students urged to form anti-drug vigilance groups to help make Andhra Pradesh drug-free.

Police Commissioner C.M. Trivikrama Varma has suggested to students to start anti-drug vigilance groups in the colleges to eradicate drugs and play their part in making Andhra Pradesh a drug-free State. He was speaking to a large gathering of over 2,500 B.Tech and medical students from Gayatri Vidya Parishad (GVP) Institutions and various colleges in an awareness programme conducted against drug abuse by the city police at PM Palem here on Tuesday.

“With three to four group of students, you can start a vigilance group in your campus. If you find any person consuming ganja or other drugs, you may immediately approach your professor. If you wish, you can also contact police through 14500, 100 or at any police station. Either the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) or local police will initiate immediate steps to take action against the person who was found selling drugs to your friends. Meanwhile, if your friend is found addictive to drugs, the police will ensure all help to bring him back to normalcy,” Mr. Trivikrama Varma said.

Mr. Trivikrama Varma highlighted the consequences of being involved in a NDPS case and what exactly is the NDPS Act. Citing a few case studies, Mr. Varma explained how a person who starts using ganja/drugs, can gradually become an addict, further turn a transporter and then a seller within a very short time. He said that, if get caught in an NDPS case, a person can land in jail for at least one year, since it is a non-cognizable and non-bailable.

Mr. Varma said that they have witnessed some ganja addicted youth between the age of 20 and 23 years, who have shown various symptoms like aggression, being abusive, anger, history of suicidal attempts, talking to self, sleeplessness, anger bouts, lack decision making and judgement, impulsiveness, trying to harm himself, decreased social interest and hallucination. He said that there was a case in which a 21-year-old youth, who was addicted to ganja over a period of time, stabbed his elder sister with a screw driver.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law & Order I) Vidya Sagar Naidu, CEO of Drona Consultancy, Suresh Betha, Chairman of Gayatri Vidya Parishad P. Somaraju, M.V.R. Raju from Pscyhology Department, Andhra University, and others were present.

During the programme, the students, police and GVP staff took a pledge against drug abuse.