Goa CM asks children to be on guard against drug use

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Monday urged children living in the tourism-centric coastal areas and whose families let rooms to foreign tourists, to be on guard against possible use of drugs.

Parsekar said only a small fraction of tourists who visit Goa require drugs or are tempted to try them as a novelty.

"I am requesting all students, some of you must be from coastal areas, some of you maybe sharing part of your houses with foreigners, to be careful in this matter. And if students come to know of those involved in drug dealing or are drug users, they should inform police," Parsekar said while speaking at an anti-drug awareness meet organised in the state capital.

"For some tourists trying drugs here is like a novelty. The good part is that drugs are not manufactured in Goa. Let me clarify, a fraction of tourists who come to Goa may require or be tempted to use drugs; and some locals try to make a business out of it. Everyone should run a business, but do not deal in drugs," Parsekar said.

Goa is one of the top beach tourism destinations in the country which attracts nearly four million tourists every year, including half a million foreign tourists.

The coastal state, however, over the last few decades has also emerged as a destination for narco tourism given to easy availability of drugs.

--IANS

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