LG Sinha flags drug addiction across J&K as epidemic levels

Pak pushing drugs to spoil future generations, says DGP

Jammu: Asserting that the thousands of families affected across the Union Territory, the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha today flagged drug addiction as epidemic levels and said that the government is committed to purge this menace.
“There are thousands of families scarred by drug addiction, and the government is determined to purge the drug epidemic,” LG Sinha said while chairing an important meeting at Civil Secretariate in Jammu.
The commitment of LG Manoj Sinha to purge the drug epidemic in comes after, the Jammu and Kashmir government raised alarms against the rise in drug menace.
Citing consumption survey, the government had revealed that the 6 lakh people affected by drug-related issues in Union Territory which is approximately 4.6 per cent population of the Union territory of which 90 per cent users are from 17-33 age group.
“To combat the drug menace, the Jammu and Kashmir is alsocompiling data on production of poppy and cannabis in Jammu and Kashmir as well as cross-border transportation to assess the presence of these drugs and their synthetic derivatives in the Union Territory,” an official said.
“The government is also framing a multi-faceted strategy including proper training of enforcement agencies, enhancement of drug testing capacity, assessment of illicit production and trade, seizure and destruction, arrest and conviction of accused, and counselling and rehabilitation of victims,” he added.
In another event, the Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh on Friday said that Pakistan is pushing drugs in large quanity for terror funding and to spoil our future generations.
“Pakistan is pushing huge quantity of drugs for terror funding in a planned manner and getting our youth involved in the menace to satisfy its evil intentions,” the J&K Police Chief said while addressing the gathering on the concluding day of three days Specialized Training programme on“Drug Law Enforcement” with Narcotics Control Bureau here.
The DGP said that over the years the graph of NDPS cases is increasing with more youth getting involved in it and stressed for professional investigation to keep a check on the menace.
Referring to the seizure of 52 kg of heroin on Thursday at Jhajjr Kotli, huge quantity of drugs in Poonch, Baramulla, Kupwara and other border areas, the DGP said that Pakistan is pushing huge quantity of drugs for terror funding in a planned manner and getting our youth involved in the menace to satisfy its evil intentions.
Stressing for improvement in conviction rate in NDPS cases, the DGP said that NDPS cases have to be investigated professionally, leaving no room for doubts to ensure conviction rates.
He also stressed the importance of identifying the inter-state drug nexus.
The DGP said that with the formation of ANTF there has been great improvement on the anti-drug front and added that more needs to be done to stop this menace and protect our youth.
He advised the Special DG Crime J&K to make ANTF a centre of excellence so that special training courses are also organized for the officers/personnel.
He appreciated the Jammu police for their efforts on the anti-drug front.
The DGP expressed gratitude to the DG NCB S N Pradhan for providing a faculty team for the training programme and appreciated the efforts of ADGP Jammu, Mukesh Singh, AIG (training/policy), J S Johar in organizing the programme.
He said that this training programme was aimed to enhance and upgrade the investigating skills of J&K Police IOs in NDPS cases and added that given the magnitude of the problem this training course is of great importance.
He hoped that the programme would prove helpful for the officers/IOs in investigating the NDPS cases.
The training programme for officers of Jammu and Kashmir Police was organized in collaboration with the Narcotics Control Bureau at Police Auditorium, Gulshan Ground Jammu.
The course was designed to have a threadbare study on the various factors responsible for growing drug menace among the youth, social effect, international narcotic cartels and to make aware the participants about the laws and important court judgments to handle the cases related to Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.