The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) has urged the State government to strictly regulate movies found to encourage drugs.
In a release issued here by the KCBC’s Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance, secretary Michael Pulickal said there was a surge in movies promoting drugs.
The organisation welcomed the government’s stated commitment to act tough to rein in the fast-spreading drug menace in Kerala.
The proposed severe punishment for accused in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS) cases and freeing educational institutions from the tentacles of drugs are steps in the right direction, the release said.
As imperative as the anti-drug drive centred on educational institutions and trade outlets is the need for identifying and stopping avenues of new generation drugs and the rackets behind them. Similarly, the surge in ensnaring girls in the guise of love affairs to make them part of drug rackets, sexual exploitation under the influence of narcotics, gold smuggling as an auxiliary of drug smuggling, and hawala money transactions should be checked, and the forces behind them probed.
With revelations that drug deals worth thousands of crores are taking place, investigative agencies should expose the forces behind them. Eradicating rackets, which are turning Kerala into a hotbed of drugs, alone will save the State from the grip of the menace.
The KCBC called for extensive awareness campaigns to protect children and youngsters from drugs. The State government should initiate steps to conduct anti-drug awareness campaigns at various levels with the participation of voluntary organisations.
