DRUG SCOURGE STALKS CITY SCHOOLS

AHMEDABAD: Parents, beware! Your dear little angel could well be
tripping on a dangerous high. For, ecstacy and brown sugar are the
new fads on the block on city's school circuit.

Drug de-addiction centres in Ahmedabad are witnessing an alarming
trend of children from elite schools trooping in to kick the evil habit.

If you thought that kids are hooked only to abusive substances like
'gutkha' or cigarettes, here's the latest news: the addictions being
treated for involve old scourges like brown sugar and new-age fads
like Ecstasy.

"Disturbing as it may sound, many children in well-known schools are
falling prey to drugs. Pushed by peers or coming from disturbed
families, these kids are into brown sugar, charas, marijuana and
other hard chemical drugs which are even more harmful to health,"
says psychiatrist Vishwamohan Thakur. He feels the situation is more
grave than in appears because only one in a hundred cases actually
comes to a de-addiction centre.

These children belong to affluent families and study in the best
schools. Doctors watching this grim situation say they have
approached school authorities to take corrective actions but most
schools and parents are in a condition of self-denial, where they do
not believe that this could be happening.

Insiders say school children often meet peddlers at coffee shops or
tea-stalls. The peddlers, like bootleggers, are just a phone call
away. Most of these peddlers are in college or have just graduated,
and themselves are addicts. They sniff out younger clients so that
they can make some money to sustain their expensive habit.

Each Ecstasy tablet costs more than Rs 500 per tablet. An addict
needs at least one tablet per day to get a high. So, if your child's
demand for pocket money is rising continuously, you better watch out!

Peer pressure often compels an inexperienced youngster to get
adventurous, resulting in burning a hole in their lungs and parent's pocket.