Kerala with a population of three crores reported more than one lakh drug abuse cases in a year. Children and adults are rapidly getting addicted to alcohol and other addictive substances. Dreams come crashing down. Expectations diverge. Births are wasted. Shockingly, Kerala has the maximum number of de-addiction centres in Asia. Media reports have revealed that there is an increase in substance abuse among adolescents who have been caught in criminal acts. The current generation of drug addicts are children who are attracted to drugs between the ages of nine and twelve. God’s own country, has become a hub of liquor shops and drugs. These drug stalls and drug stores are available near schools and educational institutions. 

Caritas India is closely working with the Catholic Church in Kerala to work strongly against drug addiction. As an initial step, Caritas India has organized a state-level workshop on the prevention of the Drug menace in Kerala on 7th October 2022 at POC Palarivattom.

The programme was officially begun with a prayer by Sr. Solly Chacko, which was followed by a welcome speech by Fr. Jacob Mavunkal, Executive Director, Kerala Social Service Forum. 

“If all the 32 Dioceses, religious congregations, schools and other departments unanimously come with combined plans and efforts under the umbrella of Caritas India, we can bright forth greater changes,” said Most. Rev. Dr. Yoohanon Mar Theodosius while presiding over the function. Bishop Yoohanon clearly stated the present scenario of drug abuse in Kerala. He stated that he has raised the need of Church intervention in this burning issue. “It is the moral responsibility of the Church to collectively open the eyes, to wake up and act cautiously to find out and destroy the sources”. 

Shri. P. Vijayan IPS, IG of police inaugurated the workshop. He emphasized two aspects to prevent drug abuse, Stop the supply chain, where sales, storage, transport and manufacturing can be meticulously watched and executed plan with the support of the Police department. The second aspect is Demand, there is a huge demand increase cutting across all the sectors of society, which has to be curtailed through a series of interventions.

He opined that “we the parents, teachers and religious leaders failed to set models and to showcase the real value and meaning of life, which is the inherent reason for this rapid increase in the drug intake among children”. 

Fr. Paul Moonjely, Executive Director, Caritas India set the expectation of the workshop. He said, Caritas India is an organization that understands the real problems of society and implements realistic actions to overcome them. Citing the example of the Cancer Care Campaign, he said, the Ashakiranam campaign, which was implemented eight years ago to prevent cancer, which was a major problem in Kerala, has been bringing greater changes. Now as Caritas India celebrates its Diamond jubilee this year, we are coming up with a new plan in Kerala to build a drug-free Kerala. He also connects the four challenges in the current scenarios of drug menace in Kerala which are Covid, Conflicts, Climate and Cost. He suggested that “the contemporary problem can be tackled and overcome through creative action plans and Caritas India is always there to work together” 

There was a session on contextual reflection on the drug menace in Kerala by Ms. Diana Joseph, Director, VENDA project, Forth Way Foundation. Ms. Diana explained the theme by showing the real facts and stories. She was focusing on empowering teenagers to say no to substance abuse, to rehabilitate the affected and addicted teenagers, and to communicate and disseminate information for creating a safe and healthy environment for teenagers and young adults. “Along with the campaign, the contextualized credible activities for the teenagers and young adults make them more focused and capable” said by Ms. Diana Joseph. She also explained about the VENDA project, which works primarily in Kerala to effectively contain and manage the issues of substance abuse among teenagers and young adults by helping them say no to drugs. The project achieves this end using a range of focused activities such as helping children channel their energies into creative pursuits, disseminating relevant information, counselling, facilitating rehabilitating and so on. After this session, some of the best DSSS De-addiction practices were shared by the participants. 

The group discussion on the theme was one of the major parts of the workshop. The participants discussed the theme of developing actions for short-term, long term and sustainable plans at the Diocesan level, District and State levels. After the discussion, all the group representatives shared their thoughts and plans with the other group participants. Major discussed points are the formation of DSSS level core committee, trainings of the core committee, the church-based temperance movement, articles in publications, developing teenager-friendly IEC materials and sharing among them, formation of volunteer groups of 20 students from each school, exhibitions, debates/discussion, partnering with existing movements, re-designing catechism curriculum, health awareness etc. The group presentations were moderated by Fr. Jolly Puthenpura, Asst. Ex. Director, Caritas India. After the group discussion and presentation, Fr. Jolly Puthenpura presented the way forward. “We have to develop different approaches to address the complex issues, the drug menace in Kerala is a complex issue so there is the need for an integrated, multisectoral and sustained effort,” said Fr. Jolly Puthenpura. Fr. Jolly expressed the way forward plan of Caritas India which is to develop a possible activity plan considering all the Dioceses and concerned departments and officially launch the campaign in the next KCBC synod in December 2022, for which a collective effort is inevitable he added. The programme was concluded by a vote of thanks by Fr. John Areekal, Secretary, Temperance Commission, KCBC.