Joint strategy needed to root out drug menace: CM

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 20

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Monday said the states needed to put in place a joint strategy to eradicate drug menace from the society. The state is devising mechanism for medical checkups in schools to detect early signs of drug abuse among children, he added.

Addressing the regional conference of Chief Ministers of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Administrator of Chandigarh through a video conference from here, Thakur said the drug abuse posed a major threat to the society, thus it was essential to chalk out a joint strategy involving all states to tackle it.

It was decided in the meeting that a common secretariat would be established in Panchkula in Haryana to check this social vice and all the neighbouring states would appoint a nodal officers for effective coordination.

It was also decided that Uttar Pradesh would also be requested to be part of this campaign. The Chief Ministers of these northern states would meet after every six months in a year and the secretary-level meeting would be held at least four times in a year.

Talking about the state government’s initiatives on to check the menace, Jai Ram Thakur said as many as 1,000 drug peddlers had been arrested in the state. “We share borders with several states. Therefore, it is essential that a joint task force be constituted to check cross border drug peddling”, he emphasized.

He said due to greater pressure on the drug peddlers in the neighbouring states, the cases of drug related arrests had increased manifold in Himachal Pradesh. Charas or cannabis was one of the major substances used by drug addicts in the state, but now synthetic drugs had emerged as a major area of concern, he added.

Thakur said the state government was planning a mechanism for regular medical checkups in schools to detect drug abuse among students at an early stage. The states need to share information on drug peddling so that the culprits could be nabbed.

Chief Ministers of Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and various representatives from Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Delhi also voiced their concern on the issue.

Common sectt mooted

• It was decided at the meeting that a common secretariat would be established in Panchkula to check this social vice and all neighbouring states would appoint a nodal officers for effective coordination
• It was also decided that UP would also be requested to be part of this campaign
• The Chief Ministers of these northern states would meet after every six months a year and the secretary-level meeting would be held four times in a year.