When some drugs go un-doctored

The small shops that line the streets outside schools are totally inconspicuous. Lined with books and other stationary, they are the student’s haven. All the school things they need are available in these make-shift shops and just a bit more. More- a few bottles of sweets, ‘home-manufactured’ drinks. But some shops go the extra mile, and these shops are the most popular as well. The tiny packets are exchanged for money as kids come and go from school. Yes everyone, school premises come equipped with drug addicts and drug dealers.

Looking closely into the matter, we find out that the teachers, students as well as the public ‘know’ about this very well. But all of them turn a blind eye towards these. Chaos breaks out when someone sensible rushes in and files a report. Now, there are more victims, more convicts and more people to share the ‘shocking’ things they know. The ‘innocent’ people out there have their mouths dropped open. ‘The world is going nuts!’

Indeed. If society itself drugs our children, who do we have to blame? When the guardian angel curses the refugee, who do we turn to? The candy man who gifts your children candy-coated heroin and cocaine are not the figments of some nightmare. It is happening, somewhere when you are reading this. This must be difficult to believe, but a survey shows that major cities are a haven for the drug mafia. They have their webs spread across the globe, their tentacles choking the gen next and making them addicts, and destroy the whole country. They thrive on our indifference; they feast on our lack of reaction. When society and media sits mum, being the silent witness, the law goes to sleep. People shake themselves from the reverie when bitter experiences splash themselves right on their faces. Desperate parents run back and forth from the rehabilitation centre and court- trying to save their kids and to save others from having the same fate. But by then, we, mighty society, would have gone back to our slumber.

We’d thought our kids were relatively safe from these life-eaters in Kerala. But no, it is quite painful to think of the situations in cities like Cochin and Trivandrum, where there is a higher number of people who are addicts. After the initial doses, kids become too addicted that they go to extremes. Gangs use these helpless beings to commit crimes. The police catch the criminals alright, but no one knows the sources. Teen offenders can only point to ‘the man with the dark eyes’ and ‘the aunty with a sweet smile’- people with nicknames and descriptions.

How secure are our youngsters really? There are parents who sit at home thinking their kids are potentially safe from them. Sorry to shatter your bright hopes but our kids are not at all safe. The only thing that can be done under the circumstances is to give them proper advice and instructions. Socializing with strangers should be limited, and they should have the presence of mind to know what is right and wrong. Keeping an open atmosphere in the family will solve a lot of problems.

There are a lot of things that can be done from the government’s side. Punish the monsters that destroy our children, make sure that there are no illegal drug dealings. And society, wake up! Keep an eye, and a mouth on the drugs that go ‘un-doctored’…

Aiswarya T. Anish

Chief Editor