Shopian, however, has seen effective implementation of the joint action plan on “Prevention of Drug and Substance Abuse Among Children and Illicit Trafficking” prepared by the NCPCR and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

Over the last two years, the district administration has taken several measures to control the availability of drugs among minors and the sale of over-the-counter drugs.

Shopian Deputy Commissioner Faz Lul Haseeb told The Indian Express, “We put in place multiple methods at a preventive level, such as ‘prahari’ clubs in schools and CCTV monitoring of pharmacies over the last two years.”

The “prahari” clubs are groups of students in schools who function as both models for others and as “monitors” checking on their peers.

“They work as ambassadors of the Nasha Mukt Bharat campaign and push the effort to inform fellow students on the effects of drug abuse and when required, inform the relevant authorities as well,” the DC said. The “relevant authorities” could be their school teacher or principal.

Apart from this, the district has also enhanced monitoring of the sale of pharmaceutical drugs, particularly those categorised as narcotics or habit-forming. While there was only one shop in the district selling Category X drugs, 420 pharmacies were brought under CCTV cover to prevent the sale of Categories H and H1 drugs over the counter.

Additionally, focus has also been brought upon the digitisation of sales and record-keeping in these pharmacies.

As per district police data, while 44 cases were registered under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in 2022, there was a sharp rise to 90 cases in 2023. In the current year, 39 cases have been registered under the NDPS Act as of last month.

Contraband seizure also went up in 2023. While 184 kg of charas was seized in 2022, this went up to 221 kg last year. Other substances, such as poppy straw, brown sugar, and codeine have also been seized by local police over the last three years. As much as 493 kg of poppy straw has been recovered by the police in the first seven months of this year.

Another aspect of the action plan is the functioning of the District Social Welfare (DSW) department. As per DSW officials in Shopian, the Juvenile Justice Board has been tracking cases of drug abuse among minors. A Special Juvenile Police officer has been appointed, and works alongside the child welfare committees to track substance abuse in educational institutions.

Overall, for the district, DC Haseeb said that awareness programmes are on track. Besides that, coordination between different government departments, including Health, Education and Social Welfare is being stressed.

“The addiction treatment facility is running properly. A drug de-addiction centre will soon be functional. Moreover, police have stepped up their enforcement by way of checkpoints and are targeting known drug peddlers. Also, the Excise Department is in the process of destroying poppy. More than 450 kanals of land has been made poppy-free,” he said.