The drugs again

My last week piece on drug abuse raised some questions which–  if not answered – will leave thedebate incomplete. By asking `is it really that bad’, I never meant `all iswell’. Mine was not a plain dismissal of a horrible reality we are facing. Thefeedback I received from my esteemed readers including some noted psychiatristsof the valley educated me about the phenomenon of drug abuse. `It is evenworse’, I got a response. Without disagreeing with my friends and readers,  (and with little explanation to add) I holdon to my view I had.

My question is simple and straight which needs no expertise,no research, no findings, no study. It hits anyone who is bothered. All Ihinted at was to control our itch to sensationalise the issue so much that weourselves make it much bigger than it actually is. Recall the scandal ofgirl-trafficking busted in the state some years back. In a bid to expose thedirt we took care lest the whole land look dirty. After all we were fighting afew brothels without brothelizing our society in the process. The same logic Iapply here. Fight drug menace with all seriousness, maturity and responsibilityit demands, but don’t present us as a people drugged beyond cure. Plug theleak, damn the flood but don’t miss the hazy line between the sense and thesensation. An impulsive report suggesting 70% to 80% people of all age rangetested positive gives a shock unless we know the sample size from where theconclusion is derived. It still is alarming, but a single hasty reading can benumerically misleading. 

   

No matter what the proportion of the problem, we can’t denythe problem itself. How sick we are can be a matter of debate but sick we are.If drugs are smuggled into families, schools, colleges, business establishmentsand all other institutions of earning and learning, who are the people behindthis sinister deal. Like some acts which can’t be carried out without aphysical intervention, the drug deal involves people who are visible andtractable. You don’t need to hack them like you hack a cyber deal. They areflesh and blood, not icons blinking on a computer screen which evade even thebest of hackers. Those who consume drugs are victims to those who sell. (Thescheme applies to political and ideological drugs also which some sell, someconsume). Sure we should watch the movement of our children in schools andcolleges, but who is there to watch the movement behind the scene. What is thepolice for? Why don’t law enforcing agencies crack down on the whole drug mafialike they do in case of other activities? Or may be they are doing, but thesting has to be harder. If activities of political nature are curbed no matterit involves a gross use of force, what about this? Here  any use of force will be appreciated as longas it punishes criminals and saves victims from a perpetual pain. 

Catch them, save us.

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