Taking a serious note of the spike in drug addiction cases among the younger section of the society across the State, a division bench of Uttarakhand High Court comprising Chief Justice K M Joseph and Justice Alok Singh has sought explanation from all the 27 Government and non-Government universities running in the State, District Magistrates and Superintendents of police, higher education director and higher secondary education director about the steps taken to check drug addiction among the youth.
The division bench sought explanation while hearing a petition filed by Shweta Masiwal, secretary of Vatsal Committee.
According to sources, Masiwal had appealed to the High Court through the petition to ensure that steps are taken to prevent drug addiction among the youth. She had also submitted statistics according to which around 21 percent of the youth in Haldwani and 31 per cent of the youth in Dehradun are addicted to drugs. They are in the age group of 14 years to 30 years, as per the statistics the petition contained.