Amid rise in the cases of drug abuse in Himachal Pradesh, particularly in ‘Queen of Hills, the Shimla Police has come up with the novel idea of forming Anti Drug Society to help drug addicts in kicking the habit.

The society would also aim to help their families in finding ways to cure their wards of habit.

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The initiative is being launched by Superintendent of Police, Shimla, Omapati Jamwal who would soon constitute Anti Drug Society at every Police Station of the district.

“The main aim of forming the society is creating awareness in society on drug abuse and identify the symptoms among the youth,” Omapati Jamwal told The
Statesman.

Most of the times, it has been seen that the use of drugs particularly ‘Chitta’ is very addictive as one become addicted to the drug after using it 2-3 times and the parents detect the habit too late.

Further, there were instances wherein some youths became addictive to Chitta after consuming it 2-3 times and their parents didn’t know how to help their kids in kicking the habit, he said.

“We would include the locals including the drug addicts, except drug peddlers as the members of the society and they would be asked to keep a watch on activities of the youth in their area,” Shimla SP said.

Jamwal said earlier elders used to keep a watch on the activities of the youth in their area and inform the parents if someone is found indulging in drug abuse or other illegal activities.

The Anti Drug Society would aim to revive the concept so that the parents come to know such habits of their children in time and desist or aware them about its ill-effects.

In addition, the society would try to identify drug users and maintain their data so that timely could be provided to the affected and their families.

“There have been cases where parents didn’t know how to deal with the habit of drug abuse among their children. The society would counsel and suggest ways to parents as well drug users as to how come out of it,” he added.

Jamwal said the Shimla Police is taking strict action against drug smugglers but now they want to shift their attention towards ‘victims of drug abuse’ as most of the times, they are introduced to the drugs without having knowledge about its ill-effects.

“It is a form of community policing but in broader perspective where drug users or victims would be made part of the campaign,” he said, adding this would also desist others from taking to the drugs.

It is worthwhile to mention here that Shimla Police has registered 24 cases of Chitta smuggling this year which is considerably high than 5 cases in 2017.

Investigations have revealed that drug peddlers are procuring the drug from Delhi and Punjab after which it is being supplied in the hill state.

The drug smugglers are taking to Chitta supplies as the profit margin is high as compared to other drugs and it is highly addictive which results in regular customers.