Teams formed to curb drug menace around colleges

With the increasing trend of drug addiction among the youth, especially college students, the government has constituted two special teams to curb drug peddling around colleges in Bengaluru. The teams, headed by an officer of the rank of Excise Superintendent, would comprise trained personnel who will keep strict vigil on those who were accused in the past of drug peddling, Excise Minister R.B. Thimmapur told presspersons after a meeting with top officials of the department. The Minister announced several measures to fight the drug menace after reviewing the functioning of the department here on Wednesday. The teams would also strengthen the Intelligence network to nab drug peddlers and frequently interact with principals of colleges, especially professional colleges, to curb the menace among students. Mr. Thimmapur said with the changing trends in the profile of narcotics and the use of technology to make them easily available to the youth, arrangements are being made for special training of State Excise Personnel with Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of the Union government to upgrade the skills of the personnel. Already, the first batch of five officers have been trained and efforts are on to send 30 more personnel for training, he said. In 2016-17, the department registered 39 cases under the Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances Act and arrested 28 persons and seized 504kg of ganja and other narcotic drugs.