Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday, August 25, made a public appeal to young people in Hyderabad and across Telangana to stay away from drugs and alcohol, offering to personally help addicts and their families access de-addiction centres and legal assistance in narcotics cases.
Speaking at a gathering at the party headquarters in Darussalam, Owaisi listed the drugs he said were circulating among the city’s youth, including MDMA priced at Rs 8,000 per gram, cocaine at Rs 10,000 per gram, LSD, ecstasy pills at Rs 2,000 each, and cannabis variants such as “potion grass” or OG, which he said was being brought in from Thailand. He also flagged the misuse of cough syrups and the sedative Nitrovine, saying young people were consuming far more than prescribed doses to get high.
Owaisi said a police officer had told him that some minors were using artificial intelligence tools to forge doctors’ prescriptions to buy the medicines from pharmacies.
The AIMIM chief shared his own experience of quitting smoking after marriage and, later, giving up hookah on the advice of a religious mentor. He urged young men and women struggling with addiction to come to him directly, promising confidentiality and help securing legal relief, including in cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
“Come with me. Go to the de-addiction centre. If you have an NDPS case, I promise you, I will get it resolved, God willing,” Owaisi said, adding that he would keep identities confidential.
He drew on religious teachings to make his appeal, citing the Quranic injunction against alcohol in Surah Al-Ma’idah and invoking the sacrifices of the martyrs of Karbala, telling young people that giving in to addiction for a few thousand rupees dishonoured that legacy.
Demand for anti-murder squads
Owaisi also raised concerns over a spate of murders in the city, calling on the state government to set up dedicated Anti-Murder Squads in the Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Malkajgiri police commissionerates. He proposed each squad be headed by an ACP with two inspectors, a sub-inspector and 15 constables, handling cases from investigation through to chargesheet, with a designated public prosecutor to ensure trials conclude within a year.
He said he had made this representation to the government before and would repeat it, adding that murders committed over political rivalry or coalition ambitions had become “the height of shamelessness.” Owaisi said the police commissioner should raise the demand with the chief minister, arguing that a city being promoted globally for investment also needed a clear message that it was safe from such crimes.
Appeal on electoral roll revision
Separately, Owaisi urged residents to participate in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. He noted the Election Commission released a draft roll on August 17, with corrections open till September 17, and asked those who received notices from Electoral Registration Officers to attend their hearings or send a representative if they could not.
Residents whose names are missing from the draft roll were asked to submit Form 6 to their Booth Level Officer. He added that AIMIM’s office at Darussalam remained open to help residents with the process.
