Seeing an increase in incidents of drug abuse among its students, the pre-university (PU) department had decided to deal with such cases with an iron hand. A new directive from the department has asked colleges to report such incidents to the police so that they can take up the case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. This means, any student found to be under the influence of drugs could now face imprisonment for up to a year.

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PU director C Shikha said the department had come to know that incidents of drug abuse had been seen at several reputed colleges and that the colleges, instead of acting tough, were trying to hush these cases up.

With such clear instructions from above, a PU department official told Bangalore Mirror, that students will have to clean up. “A student or faculty member found to have consumed cocaine, morphine, diacetylmorphine or any other drug or psychotropic substance will now be reported to the police. Under the NDPS Act, such individuals could be sent to jail for up to one year, be fined Rs20,000, or both,” the official said. The directive will also allow campuses to be frequently checked, and will give the police the authority to seize and arrest at a public place.

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A student recalled a recent incident: “A college mate who had snorted drugs the previous night was came to class while still under the influence. He was out of his senses, and dozed off on the desk during a class. When the lecturer tried waking him, he did not respond. The security guards took him to the principal’s office and they realised he was under the influence of drugs. They took him to a hospital where he was treated for a day. Later, he was suspended.” According to officials in the PU department, in most such cases, the students who are caught with drugs come from influential families and get away by dropping names. The new directive might help cut through the nepotism.

A student got candid with Mirror on how they usually pull it off: “Wardens keep an eye on students, but they still manage to get high on the campus. It’s risky to do drugs with wardens making surprise rounds. So we roll the joints and keep it in our bags and take a few drags on the way to college.

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Smoking weed in hostels is not a good idea because the smell lingers for a long time. Drugs such as cocaine, LSD and ganja are usually done at parties.” Meanwhile, the city police added that they were charting out a detailed plan to curb the drug menace in educational institutions. They also added that a notification will be issued to higher educational institutions to ensure that information on drug abuse on campus be shared with the police. They confirmed that there were instances of college and school authorities withholding information from police.

The department is also planning to step up awareness campaigns in coordination with institutions to educate students on the ill-effects of drugs.

“We will soon issue a notification making it mandatory for all educational institutions to inform the police about any drug-related incident on their campus,” said KV Sharath Chandra, additional commissioner of police (crime). The Central Crime Branch has booked 93 cases under the NDPS Act this year and have seized many high-end drugs including cocaine in the city.