‘Social influence, awareness as key to combat drug abuse”

Kolkata: The Commissioner of Police (CP), Kolkata, Vineet Kumar Goyal on Wednesday said that enforcing law is not sufficient to prevent drug abuse among the people as the scale of the menace is quite high.

While observing the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking at the auditorium of Bodyguard Lines in Alipore, Goyal stated that social influence and mass awareness play the most vital roles in stopping drug abuse.

During his speech, CP informed about seven crore people aged about 18 years and above are also the victims of some kind of drug abuse. “Considering the number 8.24 crore people which is around six per cent of the population of our country. That is huge,” he added. Apart from Goyal, state Women and Child Development and Social Welfare minister Shahshi Panja was also present at a programme. She said: “We warn people about the side effects of drugs as we are doing it for years.” She further stated that people who become addicted to drugs not only destroy their life but also destroy the life of their family members as well. Renowned actor Prasenjit Chatterjee, Abir Chatterjee and a few others were also present at the event.t.