Thiruvananthapuram, September 7 (BPNS)

Very soon each school in the state will have a ‘warrior’. This warrior’s job will be to identify those who fall victim to drug and substance abuse in their respective schools and spearhead awareness programme against drugs. In the first phase, 1000 warriors will be employed with this task. The initiative is part of Kerala Police’s ‘Yodhavu’ (warrior) programme, which has been launched against the backdrop of an alarming rise in drug and substance use incidents in the state.

The Police Department has also decided to intervene strongly in the issue as it decided to prepare a database of those engaged in drug trafficking. A centralized helpline number for tipping off information regarding drug abuse and trafficking as well as seeking assistance for rehabilitation is also being planned.

“The main targets of this programme are school and college students. Through this, police eyes reach out to those who fall victim to drug abuse and rehabilitate them. The priority is also there for tracing the drugs supply chain and breaking it,” said Anil Kanth, state police chief.

According to him, the new initiative will be implemented with the help of various departments including Education, Health, Excise, Social Justice, and Local Self Government.

As per a document, which details the objectives of the programme, 1000 schools were being considered in the first phase, and to create awareness there the service of 88,000 student police cadets will also be used. It will be an officer in the rank of deputy superintendent of police, Narcotic Cell, who will act as the nodal officer of the programme.

“The teaching staff who got selected as ‘Yodhavu’ will be provided with a two-day training. Also, once a month a station house officer will convene the meeting of such teachers under his jurisdiction to assess their work. Officials of Janamaithri Police will also be used for awareness programmes,” added Kanth.

As per stats available with the Excise Department, a total of 30,869 drug trafficking cases were registered from June 2016 to September 2022. Of this, 215 cases were those which involved juveniles. During this period, 69 cases were also registered that involved school students.

In another stat, it was revealed that between January and September 2022, 389 drug trafficking cases were registered in which the accused were below 21 years of age.

A total of 2020 cases got registered and 1,254 were arrested between May 2021 and September 2022 for selling banned tobacco products, drugs, and other substances near schools and colleges.