AKCDA assures full support to Kerala govt for its mission to eradicate narcotic substances from the state

Chennai, September 27, 2022:

Supporting the government’s efforts to tackle the drug menace in the state, the pharmaceutical traders under the All Kerala Chemists and Druggists Association (AKCDA) took one pledge in the presence of a state minister and the drug control authorities that they would neither deal in narcotic substances nor let others sell any kind of unwanted intoxicant directly or indirectly to anyone.

The pledge was taken in the form of an oath-taking ceremony organized at the pharmacy college of the association in the state capital on September 25, the World Pharmacist Day.

The oath was administered to the members of the chemists and druggists community and to the budding pharmacists by the state drugs controller, P M Jayan. The general education minister, V Sivankutty inaugurated the function.

In the wake of increasing drug menace in Kerala, the state government launched an anti-narcotics campaign, Vimukthi, a mission to create awareness among people, especially youth, to eradicate all kinds of narcotic substances from the state. The government wanted the support of the traders (medical shops) for a collective effort to curb the menace of drug abuse which is, according to national statistics, alarmingly on the rise in Kerala.

According to the excise department who implements the mission in the state, Kerala occupies second position in the country after Punjab in the case of drug abuse. The excise circle inspector at Thiruvananthapuram, S Shibu, while speaking at the function said, Kerala is competing with Punjab in the use of narcotics and alcohols in order to achieve the first position. He said recently the number of people being sent to de-addiction centres for treatments majorly include students, and that too from medical and para-medical education areas.

Saying that some healthcare professionals also become victims and dealers of narcotic substances, the excise inspector said recently his department officials have seized heroin worth Rs. 150 crore from the residence of two nurses who were leading a shared life in the city and were working in a government hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.

Later while speaking to Pharmabiz, the president of the AKCDA, AN Mohan said the traders’ body will provide full support to the government to make Kerala a completely substance-free state in the country. The medical shops will sell habit-forming drugs or the scheduled drugs only on prescriptions and their details will be documented in the register. Further, the traders will inform the authorities if any kind of illegal sale of scheduled drugs is made by any trader or dealer or person secretly or openly. They will also cross-check the scheduled drugs coming from other states or through distribution channels with enforcement officials to make the whole business fool-proof.

The association will also conduct awareness programmes in association with social organisations involving students and youths to encourage them to abstain from any kind of liquor or narcotic abuse.

Joining with the students and teachers of the John Enoch College of Pharmacy, the AKCDA members, under the leadership AN Mohan, state secretary K Jayaraj, Thiruvananthapuram district committee president Jayanarayanan Thampi and other state office-bearers, led a public awareness rally by raising slogans and carrying placards against use of narcotics to the college where the WPD celebration programs were organized.

The assistant commissioner of police S Shaji flagged off the rally which began from Karamana junction and passed through the main streets to the college to spread awareness about drug abuse and to mark World Pharmacist Day.

At the culmination of the rally at the college, a seminar on the importance of abstinence from narcotic substances was conducted in the college. Pharmabiz