Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy said 75% of the students who tested positive for drug use earlier this year have now tested negative. He said the Mangaluru city police, with the cooperation of parents, college managements and the public, had helped 75% of these students give up narcotic drugs.

In a statement, Mr. Reddy said 8,310 students from 150 colleges underwent drug tests at the beginning of the academic year. Of them, 98 tested positive and were sent for counselling with the involvement of their parents and college managements.

As a follow-up, a drive was conducted on September 10, during which 50 students who had tested positive in the first phase underwent drug tests. As many as 38 tested negative and said they had stopped consuming drugs. “It is encouraging to see more than 75% of the students who initially tested positive testing negative now,” Mr. Reddy said. He advised parents and college managements to closely follow up on the counselling of the 12 students who continued to test positive.