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Journalism of Courage
The 28-year-old sat on a plastic chair at a de-addiction centre in North Kerala, his head and shoulders drooping through most of the conversation. A week into his rehab, he still has intense bouts of emotional turmoil and craving.
It was two years ago, while in Abu Dhabi, where he worked as a driver, that he tried drugs. “My friends… all of them from Kerala… gave it to me during a trip we went on. The high was unlike anything I had felt before. Until then, I would drink occasionally, but this was kallu (crystal meth). I soon went back to my friends, asking for more. I was hooked,” he says.
Over the next several months, he would swing between ecstasy and unimaginable lows. “While on kallu, I could spend two days without sleep, but after that, I would be knocked out and not turn up for work,” he says. His body started wasting and he had violent mood swings. Finally, his family in Kerala was alerted and he was brought home. A day later, he was brought to the de-addiction centre. Through all this, he says he kept thinking: “Where can I get my next fix?”
Kerala is battling a drug emergency, one that’s borne out by stories of drug abuse and a worryingly steep squiggle on data charts of arrests and seizures. It’s the biggest talking point in the state, forcing panchayats and schools to launch special campaigns, the police to alternate between social media crusades and crackdowns, and the state Assembly to convene a special day-long session to discuss the crisis.
What has helped amplify these campaigns are citizen-led initiatives. At Karimba panchayat in Palakkad, for instance, residents have decided to establish CCTVs along roads to watch for suspicious movement of drug peddlers. Malappuram district’s Othukkungal panchayat has announced a reward for those who alert them about drug abuse and has set aside funds for free de-addiction programmes. At Maruthomkara panchayat in Kozhikode, members of a 35-member quick response team take turns to patrol all wards and keep an eye on drug peddlers.
Data from the state police and the Excise department — the two agencies at the forefront of the crackdown on drugs — point to the scale of the problem.
According to the state Excise department data, cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act went up from 2,985 in 2016 to 8,160 in 2024, a rise of nearly 200%. The first two months of 2025 alone have seen 1,783 cases. The state police registered 27,530 cases in 2024, up from 5,924 in 2016 — a jump of over 350%.
If Punjab was always thought of as the epicentre of India’s drug challenge, the crisis in Kerala — going by cases registered under the NDPS Act — is far more pressing. Data submitted by the Union Home Ministry in Rajya Sabha on March 12 shows that while Punjab had 9,025 cases in 2024, at 27,701 cases, Kerala had three times that number.
Of Kerala’s 14 districts, Ernakulam, with port city Kochi that is a major tourist draw, has the highest Excise drug cases — 1,010, followed by Kottayam (888), Kozhikode (363) and Malappuram (765).
The government, while acknowledging the problem, sees the spike in NDPS cases as a measure of the success of its crackdown.
Excise Minister M B Rajesh said, “Drug abuse has gone up in the state in recent years. The government has taken a serious note of that. More cases are being reported because of the effective enforcement of the police and excise departments. Although cases are high in Kerala, the value of the drugs seized from the state is low.”
Quoting from a recent release of the Union Home Ministry, the minister said, “In 2024, all agencies in the country seized drugs worth Rs 25,000 crore, but Kerala’s was less than Rs 100 crore. Synthetic drugs are not being manufactured in Kerala. These drugs are brought from other states and through ports in Maharashtra and Gujarat. The drug network is spread across various states and we need more effective coordination among agencies of the states and the Centre.”
What’s undeniable, however, is that for a state that has consistently topped most social indices, from health to education, this is a new high — and a new low.
The numbers point to another shift — from traditional plant-based drugs such as ganja, hashish oil, heroin and brown sugar to synthetic drugs such as MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), methamphetamine, amphetamine and nitrazepam. In Kerala, MDMA was first seized by the Excise department in 2017 — a mere 107.63 grams. By 2024, the seizures had reached 3437.918 gm, a growth of over 3,000 per cent.
Synthetic drugs such as these are known to alter perception and thinking and send users into what a 34-year-old who works for a Bengaluru-based tech firm calls “a surge of confidence and a deep sense of connection”.
It’s the kind of allure that was once reserved for weekend revelry and parties, but which now drags Kerala’s youngsters, some as young as 10, down a deep dark hole of addiction and anxiety.
Police and excise officials say drugs such as MDMA enter Kerala through other states and cities such as Bengaluru.
A senior official with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said, “Bengaluru, Goa and Hyderabad are the major production hubs in south India of synthetic drugs. Supply comes in from Delhi too.’’ The official said students, migrant workers and professionals from other states work as carriers for both plant-based drugs and synthetic drugs.
Earlier this month, while probing the source of 90 grams of MDMA seized last month, the Kollam city police found that one of the accused was sourcing the supply from Delhi. Their investigations led them to arrest a Nigerian national, Abedio Solomon, 29, from Delhi.
Police inspector R Rajeev, who nabbed Solomon from Delhi, says, “Solomon has been supplying MDMA across Kerala — from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram — almost on a daily basis. We approached him as buyers. He was charging Rs 700 per gram of MDMA, which would have sold for Rs 5,000 in Kerala. The consignment is further divided into tiny quantities and sold for Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500.’’
Deputy Inspector General of Police Hari Sankar says synthetic drugs come from abroad too, mainly from Oman, with expatriates as carriers. “Consignments are sent through courier. But it is practically impossible to check all the parcels. Agencies in this sector have to be vigilant,” he says.
But there’s another realm that has so far befuddled law enforcement — transactions on the dark web. Conversations with those who claim to have explored some of these dark alleys shine a light on what the law enforcement is up against. Here, in online marketplaces and secret chat rooms, peddlers and users strike deals over LSD stamps with names meant to mislead (‘Parvati’s Tears’, for instance) and MDMA capsules with names such as Ferrari pill (in the shape of a Ferrari logo) and Tesla pill. While LSD stamps cost about Rs 500-1,000 rupees each, MDMA capsules cost Rs 2,000-3,000 rupees a gram, “depending on the high”.
In these marketplaces — complete with reviews, ratings, and even escrow systems – transactions are usually done through cryptocurrencies. Superbikes then deliver the consignment, sometimes in under 20 minutes, coordinated through encrypted WhatsApp and Telegram networks.
What explains Kerala’s vulnerability and the timing of the crisis? The answer lies in a confluence of factors — besides a more stringent crackdown by the government and a heightened degree of social and community awareness that makes the state’s drug crisis more visible than it possibly is elsewhere, what most agree on is that the drug crisis has worsened in a culture stifled by silence, where mindsets and laid-down mores haven’t kept pace with the state’s rapid urbanisation.
“Everything is taboo here — sex, alcohol, drugs — so children are left to navigate it all alone. Kerala is among India’s top alcohol consumers, but social drinking is frowned upon and women rarely drink in public or with families. Somewhere, drugs slipped into that shadow. Similarly, mental health remains a hushed topic — Kerala’s suicide rates are the highest in India, yet support is scarce,” says a 32-year-old Kochi-based labour rights researcher who admits to having tried drugs.
The lack of newer opportunities for the youth, the post-COVID economic pressures, waning remittances from 3 million Keralites abroad and the free access to social media have come together to leave an entire population restless and adrift.
“We have phones, we are aware of what’s out there — children discuss drugs on the school bus, even the risks,” says a Class 8 student from Kochi.
Dr M P Radhakrishnan, head of psychiatry at Travancore Medical College in Kollam, says it’s the young who are most vulnerable to drugs. According to Excise department figures, there were 75 NDPS cases against those below 18 in 2024, up from 51 in 2023.
“Most of the synthetic drug addicts who we see are below the age of 30. In the case of alcoholics, it usually takes a person several years of use before the addiction kicks in, so they would have attained middle age by the time they turn to us for treatment. But in the case of synthetic drugs, all it takes is a few days of use for a person to turn into an addict. So we see a lot of youngsters in their 20s who come to us with behavioural changes. It’s only during investigation that we realise they are into drugs. In a lot of cases, even their parents are in the dark,’’ says Radhakrishnan.
Dr Geo George, Consultant Psychiatrist at Mindful Rejuvenation, a de-addiction centre in Kochi, points to this breakdown of real conversations. “People are dissatisfied — social media fuels comparison, inferiority festers, and children feel inadequate. Without daily outlets for stress, they turn to what’s available. There’s no proper support system — friends are distant, parents and teachers don’t listen,” he says.
The Class 8 boy says, “Parents only care about marks. Bullying happens daily, and teachers do nothing.”
Doctors and psychologists link drug use to instances of violence, mostly directed at family members. According to police data, in 2021, there were 16 cases of crime “triggered by drugs”, but the figure reached 88 in 2024. The first two months of this year have already seen 23 such incidents.
Dr Geo George outlines the psychological challenge. While violence, he says, is tied to personality, “drugs erode coping skills, making agitation more likely”.
“MDMA floods the brain with feel-good chemicals, but when it fades, users can’t cope with normal lows. Small criticisms, minor displeasures — all of these get overwhelming and when confronted, they lash out,” he says.
Kerala is fighting back. Operation D-Hunt, a campaign launched in January with special drives against drug peddlers, has led to 12,760 cases and 13,449 arrests as of March 31.
Minister Rajesh said, “A state-level anti-drug committee with the Chief Minister as chairman and Excise Minister as vice-chairman has come up. In all local bodies, ward-level committees have been formed and vigilance has been strengthened on school premises. We have prepared a database of repeated offenders with provisions for preventive arrest.’’
On March 30, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan convened a high-level meeting on the drug crisis. “Our surveillance system is very strong. The drug mafia knows how stringent our measures are. Our conviction rate is the highest in the country at 98.19%…,’’ the CM said at the meeting.
Dr George, however, says the solution demands more than raids and arrests. “School counsellors must be qualified; parents and teachers should monitor children and catch behavioural shifts early. We must talk to our kids — really talk — before they are lost,” he urges.
Shivaji Chandrasekha-ran, 27, believes that many such conversations with his father brought him back from the brink. In February, after Shivaji and two of his friends were caught with around 0.11 grams of MDMA in Thiruvanantha-puram, his father Vishnupuram Chandrasekharan, an anti-drug crusader, chairman of the the Vaikunda Swami Dharma Pracharana Sabha (VSDPS), an organisation representing the Nadar community, and an office-bearer of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in Kerala, put out a post on Facebook. “Even if he is my son, a wrong is a wrong. If he has committed a crime, he must be punished… Therefore, there has been no intervention in this matter, and there will be none in the future,” he said.
Shivaji, who was released on station bail, says his father frequently visited him at the de-addiction centre where he was admitted, hand holding him through the crisis.
Shivaji says he tried synthetic drugs around two years ago. “I started using them with friends. Not that anyone persuaded me… It always starts with that curiosity to explore,” he says.
“When you are a substance user, you tend to avoid spending time with your family. There is always the fear that you will be found out. I would avoid my wife, my father, mother, brother. They were shocked to hear about my arrest, but they stood by me. My father would come every day to the de-addiction centre and talk to me. But not once did he scold me,” says Shivaji, who runs a laundry business.
His father Chandrasekharan adds, “As a public figure, the message I want to send out is that anyone can commit a mistake, but you can always come back to life. My son is an example of that.”
Inputs by Narayanan S
