Andhra Pradesh Spotlight
Sikandar sits quietly in a hall, his face, framed by curly hair parted to the side, a blank slate. Of average height and dusky complexion, the 21-year-old has an unassuming air about him and looks like the kind of person one would pass by without a second thought.
Words come slowly as he narrates his story in an almost emotionless but chilling tone. “I killed three persons in a brawl, all under the influence of drugs and alcohol,” he says. His voice had no anger, remorse or panic, just an unsettling calm. He was 16 when that occurred.
“All I remember is that I was furious, and then it just happened. I did not mean for it to go that far,” he murmurs, recalling the incident. Sikander, along with his friends, had been consuming alcohol and taking drugs on a hill near a temple in Tirupati since morning that day. Soon, they ran out of supplies. Desperate for more, they approached members of a rival group, who were once their friends.
All hell broke loose when the latter refused to give them drugs and tried to flee. Sikandar and his friends gave chase and managed to overpower and pin down three of them. He then stabbed them to death with a sharp stone before passing out. The police arrived at the spot, and he was shifted to an observation home for boys at Sanivarapupeta in Eluru district.
An orphan, Sikandar had grown up in various care homes, getting tossed from one place to another and surrounded by faces that came and went. After getting released from the juvenile home after turning 18, he again found himself in two other shelters, including one in Bengaluru, before ending up at Bosco De-Addiction Centre at Posanapalli in Nuzvid mandal of Eluru district, where he has been staying for the past 12 months. “For the first time, I feel the urge to overcome my addiction,” he says with a faint smile and expresses his desire to learn to drive and make a living out of it.
Sikander is the oldest of the 11 inmates at the de-addiction centre run by Navajeevan Bala Bhavan (NJBB), an NGO established in Vijayawada in 1989, and it works for vulnerable youth. The centre sprawls across 23 acres of a mango orchard, which lends it a touch of peace and serenity. However, the calm of the outside world contrasts starkly with the tempest in the hearts of the young inmates, each grappling with their battles with addiction.
Thirteen-year-old Manikantha, a student at a private English medium school in old Guntur, descended into the dark alleys of substance abuse when he was 10. He is now aware of his situation but is unable to escape from it yet. The boy had befriended a group of older students at school, who, at first, seemed like mentors, but soon introduced him to cigarette smoking, something he saw as a rite to fit in. Soon, they offered him ganja as well and told him it would make him feel “free” and “cool”.
Jakkula Anjaneyulu, programme manager at the de-addiction centre, says children get easily addicted to drugs. The boys at the centre are caught in the crossfire between their desires and regrets, he adds. Citing the cases of 11-year-old Gopikrishna and 12-year-old Khaja Moiuddeen from Vijayawada, Anjaneyulu says that substance abuse impairs students’ ability to focus, leading to missed assignments, decline in overall academic performance, and even expulsion from schools.
Uma Raj of Green Valley Foundation, an organisation from Visakhapatnam working under the National Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR), says that cases of substance abuse and social media use disorders among schoolchildren have increased and that emotional and psychological struggles are common among such children. She underlines the importance of parents equipping children with the ability to process their emotions.
State Project Director of Samagra Shiksha B. Srinivasa Rao also admits that the department has been receiving complaints from schools across the State about substance abuse among students.
War on drugs
The State government has taken several measures on a war footing to stem drug use among students and its potential long-term effects on public health and society.
Curbing ganja cultivation is being given renewed focus. According to information shared by Minister for Home Affairs V. Anitha in the Assembly, the area under ganja cultivation has been brought down from 11,000 acres to 100 acres, and around 40,088 kg of marijuana and 564 vehicles used for its transportation have been seized since the new government assumed office. At the 20 marijuana hotspots in seven mandals, around 46 lakh ganja plants were destroyed, and 359 families involved in cannabis cultivation were persuaded to switch to alternative crops, she had said.
EAGLE Clubs
The government has also revamped the Anti-Narcotics Task Force and renamed it as Elite Anti-Narcotics Group for Law Enforcement or ‘EAGLE’.
Inspector General of Police (IGP-EAGLE) A. Ravi Krishna says the police aim at educating students about the serious trouble they may invite by taking to substance abuse. During his visits to educational institutions, he explains to students how cannabis contains over 400 chemicals, with the most prominent of them being THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive compound responsible for its mind-altering effects. “We tell them the science of the THC interacting with the brain’s receptors, specifically the cannabinoid receptors, which play a role in memory, mood and coordination,” he says, explaining further that this interaction disrupts normal brain functioning, leading to the characteristic ‘high’ that users experience.
“We tell them [students] the science of the THC interacting with the brain’s receptors, specifically the cannabinoid receptors, which play a role in memory, mood and coordination.”A. Ravi KrishnaInspector General of Police, EAGLE
“Children need to be cautioned that repeated use of cannabis can lead to the development of a dependency syndrome,” he says, adding that the brain, over time, becomes accustomed to the presence of THC, and the individual starts needing more of the substance to achieve the same effects. As a result, the brain’s reward system becomes altered, making it harder to feel pleasure from everyday activities.
Moreover, he points out that the stringent provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, place the burden of proof on the accused. “Students should understand that their career will be sealed if they get caught and their names find their way into the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS).”
Secretary to Government (Education) Kona Shashidhar says that the government is not looking at punishments. “It is a sensitive issue involving socio-economic factors. We want to address the problem effectively through a positive transformative approach,” he says. Education and awareness are key to the success of the war being waged on the social scourge, he adds.
To create a student-friendly ecosystem on campuses, the Education Department has directed the formation of EAGLE Clubs in all schools and colleges. These clubs are being tasked with creating a drug-free educational ecosystem through educating students, teachers and other staff on the dangers of substance abuse. “This is our attempt to empower institutions with tools and resources needed to prevent the use of drugs [on campuses] and extend support to the affected individuals,” says Shashidhar.
To achieve the goal, the department is collaborating with law enforcement officials, healthcare professionals, NGOs and the community at large for effective implementation of anti-drug initiatives.
In an aggressive campaign, campuses will witness workshops, seminars and interactive sessions, all integrated into the curriculum, to spread awareness among students on the dangers of drug use and also its legal ramifications. Students will be encouraged to take a stand against substance abuse, help foster a zero-tolerance culture and leverage technology to spread the message far and wide. The establishment of a peer-monitoring mechanism and vigilance networks to identify early signs of substance abuse and facilitation of intervention through trained counsellors, teachers and law enforcement officers have been identified as important requirements to take the movement forward, says Shashidhar.
Counsellors recruited
The Samagra Shiksha wing of the Education Department has recruited 255 career and mental health counsellors in all the districts to cover secondary and senior secondary schools, apart from four project monitoring units counsellor coordinators. The move has been made in collaboration with New Delhi-based Educational Consultants India Limited (EdCIL).
“The idea behind establishing a network of counsellors across the State is to extend comprehensive mental health support and guidance to students and help them navigate their academic, social and emotional aspects,” Srinivasa Rao explains.
“The idea behind establishing a network of counsellors across the State is to extend comprehensive mental health support and guidance to students and help them navigate their academic, social and emotional aspects.” B. Srinivasa RaoState Project Director of Samagra Shiksha
The counsellors, he says, will help students develop better coping mechanisms, which, in turn, will help them improve their focus and attention in classrooms and cultivate positive relationships with peers and educators. The counsellors will also provide career guidance to students, especially those from the rural pockets, he adds.
These counsellors will undergo training under experts from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Melbourne University and Regional Institute of Education, Mysore.
“Through effective intervention, combined with comprehensive support systems and preventative measures, the government intends to make a significant difference in combating this growing problem and help guide students toward healthier futures,” says Srinivasa Rao.
Names of inmates changed.
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Published – March 14, 2025 08:54 am IST
