‘Drug money behind bullets our soldiers take’

In an emotional appeal to youths to say ‘no’ to drugs, asserting that its consumption is neither a ‘style statement’ nor ‘cool’, Modi said a toll-free helpline would be set up soon to assist those seeking solutions. He said the society as well as the government will have to work together to combat the problem.

In his third ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme on radio, he said the menace is a ‘national pain’ but instead of the youth being mired in the problem, drugs should be shunned. He said drug addiction is ‘a malaise filled 3D -- darkness, destruction and devastation -- as it leads to the dark alleys of destruction and devastation’. Modi also asked the youth taking drugs whether they know that the money they spend on drugs might be going to fund terrorism. “Have you thought that the money you spend on drugs might be going to terrorists who buy bullets to kill our soldiers? You also love mother India. How can you help terrorists?” he asked the youth in his monthly broadcast to the nation.

The Prime Minister said a thinking process should begin to ensure that the country is rid of this problem and added that he will try to involve celebrities from the cine world, sports and other fields to campaign for a “drug-free India”. “For long, I have been concerned about the young generation...A son gets caught in such a quagmire taking down with him his whole family. Drugs are such a devastation.” However, he also added that drug addiction is bad, not the persons addicted to it. 

Describing it as a psycho-socio-medical problem, he said the family, friends, society, government and the law will have to work together to fight it as working in pieces will not help. He said he had asked his officials to set up a toll free helpline soon to assist those seeking answers to the problem.

During his last radio address on November 4, the Prime Minister had invited views on the issue and had asked NGOs to share their experiences. “I am worried as some of our sons and daughters get addicted to drugs and the entire family is torn apart,” he said on Sunday.