Drug-Free India: A Shared Responsibility

Drug abuse has emerged as a serious challenge across the world and India is not untouched. What worries me the most is not merely the presence of drugs, but the manner in which they can quietly enter the lives of young people—sometimes through curiosity, sometimes through peer pressure, stress or loneliness and sometimes through a single experiment that gradually becomes dependence.

Creating a ‘Drug-Free India’ cannot therefore be the responsibility of the police and government agencies alone. It requires a people’s movement involving families, schools and colleges, health-care professionals, community and religious leaders, the media and, most importantly, young people themselves.

In my experience as a police officer, I have increasingly realised that our strategy must address two interconnected challenges—supply and demand. We must make drugs difficult to obtain, while simultaneously making our young people strong enough to reject them.

Breaking The Supply Chain

Enforcement remains the first line of attack against those who profit from addiction. The drug trade is constantly evolving. Traffickers exploit closed groups and digital communication and use clandestine methods of transportation and distribution. The attraction of quick illegal money further fuels these networks. Policing must therefore become increasingly intelligence-led, technology-supported and community-assisted.

Equally important is coordination among enforcement agencies. Drug networks do not respect the police station, district or state boundaries. Information cannot remain confined within organisational silos. Timely sharing of intelligence among police units and other enforcement agencies should become the bottom line of a strict enforcement strategy. Connecting seemingly isolated pieces of information can reveal the movement of drugs, money and people across jurisdictions.

Citizens can become one of our strongest sources of intelligence. But they will share information only when they trust the police. The confidentiality and identity of informants must be protected. When people see that their information remains confidential and leads to meaningful action, confidence grows. With trust comes information and with better information comes better enforcement.

Prevent The First Experiment

While enforcement attacks supply, awareness must reduce demand. Nobody begins taking drugs with the ambition of becoming an addict. Addiction may begin with curiosity, peer pressure, emotional distress, loneliness, stress or simply the thought: “Let me try it once”.

That first experiment can sometimes change the direction of a life. Parents are therefore the first line of prevention. They need to observe, not spy upon, their children. Sudden behavioural changes, unexplained expenditure, unusual secrecy, disturbed sleep, falling academic performance, withdrawal from family or a dramatic change in friendships may deserve attention. None of these signs alone proves drug use, but they may tell us that a child needs conversation and support.

Our response should not begin with anger. Listen. Communicate. Understand. Intervene early. Schools and colleges have an equally important responsibility. Drug awareness cannot remain an annual lecture or a ceremonial programme. Conversations about drugs, peer pressure, mental health, responsible choices and consequences must become a part of sustained engagement with students.

Addiction Requires Treatment, Not Stigma

One issue has concerned me deeply—the silence surrounding addiction. When families discover that their child is using drugs, fear of social stigma sometimes makes them hide the problem. They worry about reputation and what others will say. Unfortunately, during this silence, addiction may become stronger.

We need to change this mindset. Drug dependence has important medical and psychological dimensions. Just as we approach other illnesses through specialists and treatment protocols, a person struggling with addiction may require psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and trained rehabilitation professionals. Families should not hesitate to seek professional help. This brings us to another major challenge: the availability of accessible, affordable and professionally managed de-addiction and rehabilitation centres. In my experience, this remains an area where considerable strengthening is required.

If we tell a family to seek rehabilitation, credible facilities must be available and affordable. Treatment cannot stop at detoxification either. Rehabilitation must ultimately mean reintegration—bringing a person back to family, education, employment and a life of dignity.

There is another question worth asking: Why should our children search for an artificial high when life offers so many natural ones? Sports, fitness, music, art, adventure, creativity, volunteering and community service can provide excitement and fulfilment while simultaneously developing confidence, discipline, friendship and purpose.

Sports are particularly powerful. They teach us to fall and rise again, to accept defeat, to work towards goals and to discover the satisfaction of achievement through effort.

These opportunities should begin early and should not remain privileges available only to a few. Every child deserves an opportunity to discover something worth becoming passionate about.

Turn The Fight Into A People’s Movement

A ‘Drug-Free India’ must therefore rest on interconnected pillars: intelligence, enforcement, prevention, awareness, treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration.

The police must disrupt supply. Parents must communicate. Teachers must observe. Schools and colleges must educate. Doctors and psychiatrists must guide. Community leaders must speak. The media must spread responsible awareness. Society must accept and support those seeking recovery. And our young people must themselves become ambassadors of a ‘Drug-Free India’.

Above All, Speak up!

Silence protects the problem; conversation begins the solution. As we celebrate our 80th Independence Day, freedom acquires another meaning. Independence is not merely freedom from external control. It is the freedom to control our own minds, make informed choices and live with dignity.

India once united to win political freedom. Today, we need another collective resolve—to protect our young people from a dependence that can take away their freedom from within.

Let us prevent the first experiment, break the supply chain, treat addiction professionally, strengthen rehabilitation, promote healthier choices and stand with every family fighting this battle.

A ‘Drug-Free India’ will not be created by the police alone. It has to be built together—one child, one family, one school and one community at a time.

(The author is a senior IPS officer, Mumbai)

(Views expressed are personal)