SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh’s Una district bordering Punjab is getting a distinct similarity with the neighbouring state. Youngsters in the district, including those in school and college, are not only becoming addicted to cigarettes, gutkha, khaini and alcohol but they are also falling prey to capsules, cough syrups, shoe polish, balm, white fluid beside charas, smack, heroin and opium Himachal Pradesh Police have seized 229kg charas, 4kg opium and 263kg poppy husk beside other licit drugs across state till May 31 this year.Earlier in May this year, a 17-year-old youth from Dangoli village of Una district had died due to overdose of heroin. Similar incidents have been reported from Haroli area earlier. Not only Una district, but other areas of Himachal Pradesh bordering Punjab are grappling with similar problem.These incidents are just the tip of an iceberg and have left the state government worried. Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on June 27 had said drug abuse was a social vice which needed to be curbed with public participation. He had also said that it was unfortunate that about 27% youth in the state were involved in drug abuse.Thakur said that a special task force has been constituted in the police department to effectively implement the campaign against drug peddlers. He said that three state narcotics crime control units at Shimla, Kangra and Kullu had been set up to deal with drug mafia.Even senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar has asked his party’s government in the state to chalk out a strategy to deal with the challenge. The former chief minister has suggested that yoga and moral education should be made compulsory in all schools to keep the youngsters away from drugs.“Increasing trend of drug usage among youngsters in Himachal Pradesh is an alarming trend as even the villages are getting affected by this. The state government with the suggestion of opposition devise a strategy to fight this menace at the earliest,” he said.Former superintendent of Narcotics Control Bureau at Chandigarh O P Sharma said that stricter measures needs to be taken to fight drug mafia. He said that heroin or chitta was easily available in all the districts of state. He said there was need for the effective monitoring of routes from where drugs are flowing into the state.Himachal Pradesh former DGP I D Bhandari said that gravity of problem could be gauged from the fact even young children studying in Class VII and VIII are sniffing pesticides and later they would be using chitta or cocaine. He said that to fight this problem, government will have to ensure the involvement of society.“At present there is no survey available at government level to know how much percentage of youth is addicted to drugs. Enforcement only would not work otherwise situation will become out of control in next five-six years,” he added.

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