Bangalore University to turn Jnana Bharathi into a drug-free campus

Bengaluru: The Bangalore University (BU) has decided to make its Jnana Bharathi campus free from drugs to curb peddlers from entering the area and prevent drug abuse.

The University has initiated various awareness programmes to sensitize students on the ill-effects of consumption of narcotics/drugs.

There is no report on the number of drug abuse cases found in the campus and its affiliated colleges, sources told this paper. The varsity has also taken this measure to curb the entry of drug peddlers into its campus following police crackdown and media reports that drugs are increasingly being patronized by youths especially college students.

The varsity has also received information that some of its students have easy access to drugs and that students believed that snorting cocaine gave them instant pleasure with the belief that it also enhanced their academic performance.

Merely suspending students found using drugs in campus will not solve the problem and such students need to be educated about its ill effects. They need deeper understanding, counseling and rehabilitation as most of the students were secretive about using drugs and it is tricky to deal with them.
Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) published a new set of guidelines a few months back on prevention of drug abuse on campus.

MHRD has also circulated to University Grants Commission and to all  university vice chancellors to take appropriate steps to sensitize teaching and non-teaching staff as also implement measures under the National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) to tackle the problem of sale of drugs to school and college children. The policy also directed disallowing the sale of tobacco within 100 metres of colleges, training professors to counsel students and run de-addiction camps on the campus.   

“The use of narcotics/ drugs within and outside campus and educational institutions of the varsity has become a major challenge to deal with. Hence, the varsity has decided to come up with awareness programme to sensitise youths, students where more than 4000 students are studying in different 45 post graduate courses and at the same time warn them against the adverse affects of narcotics and drugs” said the varsity official.