Chennai, Aug 10 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has directed authorities to act strongly against those selling drugs and to seize their properties.

He called upon the officers to be more vigilant near educational institutions.

The chief minister was speaking at a meeting of top police officials and senior police officers with an agenda to eradicate the drug menace in the state. Stalin said that parents, school and college teachers, and the management of educational institutions have a responsibility to monitor students from becoming victims of drug abuse.

He also called upon the officers to check the movement of drugs from other states into the state. The Chief Minister also called upon psychiatrists and medical practitioners to create awareness about the gravity of substance abuse among the young generation.

Stalin said that social and Non-Governmental organisations also must be roped in to prevent drug abuse in the state and said that all these measures have to be undertaken by the society as a whole. The Chief Minister said that only collective initiative would lead to Tamil Nadu becoming a drug-free society.

While Tamil Nadu was better than Gujarat and Maharashtra regarding the movement of drugs, he was not prepared to rest until even a single drop of an illegal drug is not there in the state, he said.

The Chief Minister said that the previous government had not done much to prevent the use of drugs in the state but he said that the present government was focusing its attention on this menace.

He said that Tamil Nadu was doing good on all fronts and that people and society should not allow the drug menace to hinder the progress of the state and added that stringent action by law enforcement agencies is the need of the hour.