NIB, colleges team up to nip drug supply on campus

In a first of its kind initiative, the Narcotics Intelligence Bureau of the state police has launched a programme with the support of educational institutions to end the problem of substance abuse on campuses. NIB started off the programme following intelligence inputs suggesting an alarming rise in abuse of psychotropic substances on campuses across the state. 

At present the NIB is working with as many as 15 educational institutions across the state, including two in Chennai. The aim, according to highly-placed sources in NIB, is to prevent the entry of such substances to the campus. 

“The drug supply network is very huge with several players and it is difficult to get to the root and eliminate the trade. We actually took a bottom-up approach where we tried to curb the in-campus supply network, which comprised mostly of students,” a senior official attached to the NIB told DT Next. 

NIB sources said they would prefer keeping the operational details under wraps as it would attract unnecessary attention. “We are trying to keep campuses safe for students for which substance abuse needs to be taken out of the equation. Our goal is to completely eliminate the entry of psychotropic substances into colleges. 

The results of our programme are encouraging,” the official added. Meanwhile, the managements of a few colleges were found taking a laidback approach to the issue of drug control, in effect, giving students a free hand on their ‘recreational choices’ on campus. 

A senior official revealed, “The management teams of certain institutions are not keen on collaborating with law enforcement agencies. They fear such enforcements may deter students coming from highly affluent and liberal backgrounds. This is a very dangerous attitude.” 

NIB officials say substance abuse and drugs have become the most important area of concern for the agency. “The illicit drug business runs into several hundreds of crores across India. And youngsters here are turning casualties of substance abuse,” the official added. 

NIB’s seizures are also an indicator to the increased inflow of such drugs to TN. In 2014, NIB had seized Rs 3 crores worth psychotropic substances from the state. In 2014, the seizures were valued above Rs 13 crores. “Once we curb the in-campus supply chain, we get leads to the suppliers outside and we can work towards the top links in the supply chain,” the official added.