AMN
Thousands of people from different walks of life on Tuesday joined hands to form human chains at many places across Kerala, as part of the campaign against drug abuse.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet colleagues, government officials, students, voluntary organisations, NCC Cadets and Student Police Corps joined the movement. This was part of the first phase of the nearly month long drive which began on October 6, to create awareness about the rampant abuse of drugs in the society, particularly among the students and the youth.
The participants of the human chain took a pledge to refrain themselves from taking drugs.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told a press conference recently that the state reported a three fold increase in the cases of consumption of narcotic drugs. This year, over 18,700 people were caught in drug cases as against 6704 last year. Over 1,365 kg of ganja, 8 kg of MDMA and about 24 kg of hashish oil were seized by various agencies so far during this year.