Newspaper reports every day reveal the excellent work being performed by Kerala Police and State Excise Departments in unearthing drugs being brought into the State, for luring youth into the drug trap. It is clear from the news reports how far Kerala has been invaded by the constant supply of various dangerous chemical drugs.

Incidents of drug and alcohol abuse and related anti-social behaviour have tremendously increased in recent years. This has become a matter of concern to the government, parents, teachers, non-governmental organisations and all other relevant agencies.

It is more prevalent than parents suspect. Parents do not recognise the extent of drug use and as a result, some young people think they can use drugs with impunity. Most parents wrongly believe that it is the responsibility of teachers to check drug abuse among school-going children and still, most of them delude themselves that their children are safe and secure.

Drug abuse is not confined to young people in certain geographical areas or from particular socioeconomic backgrounds. It affects the entire State as a whole, both in urban and rural areas. The problem cuts across class. It is not only prevalent in low-income areas where life is hard, but also with families having luxurious lifestyles. The level of drug abuse is startling and even more frightening because of the fact that many young people are getting wired on drugs each passing day.

Deviant behaviour, by youth, is learnt without much biological and psychological defects. Impersonal agencies of communication such as movies, television, radio and newspapers play an important role in the genesis of antisocial behaviour. Drug abuse as a form of anti-social behaviour can be learned through these media. There is, however, no scientific survey to show the extent to which these agencies have influenced the youth into drug use in Kerala. The constant weakening of social controls allows the youth to be involved in drugs. With rapid urbanization and increased movements to metro cities in other States, new ways of life have been ushered in and new values have replaced the old ones, thereby creating conditions under which behaviour can be variously defined.

Age-old taboos and traditional social control mechanisms have ceased to have force, opening the door to permissiveness that has led the youth to indulge in antisocial behaviour, including drug abuse. Parents are no longer in a firm position to direct and guide their children. Some of the youth live far away from their parents, either in schools or other learning institutions, or may be working. Lack of parental care due to the working situations of the mother or both parents and the disintegration of the joint family are also factors that have a bearing on the drug abuse problem.

Highly competitive and expensive school and college education make many youths get frustrated as there is no avenue towards the achievement of their goals, and they are compelled to indulge in anti-social behaviour and one way of doing that is through drug addiction. The frustrations experienced may result from conditions at school, college, home, or place of work, as well as anxiety about the future. This is also one of the reasons for increased clamour for reservations, as well as continuation of reservations, as families feel that the financial burden can be happily transferred to the government. Community vote banks are brandished as a reward for continuation of reservation in education, and employment and a host of freebies. Students belonging to communities that do not have any governmental protection, by way of reservations, have no other option but to migrate to foreign lands. This is not possible for academically weak students, and they have to face rejection in matters of education and employment, hence, they seek refuge in alcohol and drugs for mental relaxation.

Many observers also believe that some parents are responsible for their children’s drug abuse, as they are exerting enormous pressure in dictating the career goals of their children, even if they are not naturally gifted in the specified areas. Some young people, on the other hand, try to match the achievements of family members that may be beyond their ability. When they fail, they resort to drugs.

Modern societies put a very high premium on material success, in the form of monetary success, which is also a status symbol, but at the same time, the same societies fail to make adequate institutional means for the average person, especially the economically poor, to achieve their goals. Poverty also tends to be a characteristic of social deviants, including drug abusers. This is what comes to be called an economic explanation of deviant behaviour. Poor economic conditions are worsened when the youth do not see any hope of employment even with education. The youth therefore, do not find a positive outlet for their energies and aspirations. It has been suggested that boredom or even fear of it motivates youngsters to engage in anti-social behaviour. Drug abuse may, therefore, be a satisfying form of recreation as it is difficult for any community to substitute an equally thrilling but more conventional form of diversion.

Sociologists and anthropologists have clearly defined the difficulty that adolescents find in a changing society. In many societies, it is accepted and understood that adolescence is the period when a youngster forms his own identity, usually by meaningful conflict with his parents or the older generation. It has been said that adolescence is a period of healthy hostility on the part of the youngsters who confronting the adult standards and traditions, are discovering or even inventing new avenues. When drugs are taken over long periods for fun and pleasure, addiction invariably sets in.

Another concomitant problem in Kerala is alcohol addiction. Liquor policy is a major revenue earner for almost all State governments in India. Kerala depends heavily on liquor revenue. In April 2025, the Kerala government amended the liquor rules to allow the sale of legal alcohol in designated IT parks. This includes state-owned IT parks like Technopark, Infopark, and Cyberpark, as well as public-private partnership IT parks. A "Foreign Liquor Information Technology Park Lounge License" will be issued to developers for an annual fee of ₹10 lakhs, allowing them to serve liquor within the IT park premises. This is definitely going to bring in additional revenue for the State and also additional addicts. Young men and women working in the IT sector will get exposed to alcohol consumption even during normal office working hours. How far the managements of companies in these parks is going to permit alcohol consumption as normal as coffee drinking has to be seen?

Alcohol is an extremely potent drug. It acts on the body primarily as a depressant and lowers brain activity. Its consumption causes a number of marked changes in behaviour. Even low doses impair judgement and coordination. Most drug addicts consume alcohol along with drugs.

If drug abuse and alcohol abuse are not controlled now, the State is headed for doom, where a large number of able-bodied Keralites would end up as vegetables. The government both at the Centre and the State, should do more to contain the problem, considering that India is a signatory to the United Nations Charter. Article XXVIII on drug abuse states that: “States parties to the present charter shall take all appropriate measures to protect the child from the use of narcotics and illicit use of psychotropic substances as defined in the relevant international treaties and prevent the use of children in the production and trafficking of such substances”.

Drugs and alcohol should never be permitted to take root in the State. Already, alcohol addiction is at a very abnormal level in the State. In 2024, liquor worth ₹108 crores was sold on New Year's Eve in Kerala, and on Christmas Eve, alcohol worth ₹97.42 crores was sold through the Beverages Corporation, according to press reports. Overall, in the last 10 days of 2024 (until December 31), liquor worth ₹712.96 crore was sold through the Beverages Corporation.

The government cannot have a Janus-faced approach, encouraging rampant alcoholism while expressing anguish and pretending sternness about rising drug consumption. Just as alcohol sales are being expanded, the day is not far off when, in the name of earning extra revenue, Cannabis cultivation is going to be legalised. Let us remember the words of Donald Lynn Frost: “Drugs take you to hell disguised as heaven.” The road to recovery is challenging and not always easy to navigate. Government, by its revenue, alcohol and drugs policies should not put the whole State and its vibrant youngsters in ‘recovery mode’.