Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Easvarapatham Saravanapavan charged that authorities worked hand in glove with the drug racketeers and that it would thus be nigh on impossible to eradicate the drug menace with such corruption within the system. Below are excerpts of his interview with The Sunday Morning: What do you see as the main factor for successive governments' failure in tackling the drug menace? Firstly, the forces must support this task – especially the Police. But they are not doing so. They are not genuine. So naturally, the fight to eradicate drugs is failing. Also, everything is about money today. They are also human beings, so they give priority to money. There have been recent reports of confiscated drugs finding its way back into the black market. How do you see this? Like I said earlier, it is due to corruption. Today, we are not a poor country, but the cost of living is very high. So they seek all and every avenue to earn money and the illegal drug trade is not an exception. But it is very bad and is completely spoiling society. People must think of the future of the younger generations and come together. Expecting just the President or the Prime Minister to address this issue alone is not enough. Society must come together for this purpose. But here too there is a problem because they are scared of the drug dealers. They fear violence and backlash, so they are reluctant to get involved in these matters. When looking at tackling the drug menace, would it be best to address the issue of demand for drugs or the supply of drugs? Both will have to be addressed. But I believe that awareness programmes can help greatly and help in reducing demand among the youth. That way, we can see what progress can be made. Another option is what is taking place in developed countries, which is to legalise certain drugs. I’m not sure if this method will suit our country, but we must now come up with new methods. Do you believe there are parliamentarians involved in drug racketeering? If so, why do political parties continue to nominate such corrupt individuals? I see in the media that politicians are involved but it is clear that such politicians are not directly involved and have lackeys doing the dirty work. Those who are caught by the Police are not the real drug traffickers. There is a system where drug kingpins pay their lackeys a small sum to get caught and take the fall. This way, the Police are satisfied because they have a culprit and the big fish get away with the crime. Authorities too are involved in this. So why do political parties keep nominating such individuals who are involved in the drug trade? Unfortunately, today, despite there being allegations against politicians, none of them are brought to book. If the authorities cannot prove the politician’s connection to drugs, there is nothing the political parties can do. These people have money which they give the political parties, so the parties have to nominate them. Authorities must convict such politicians if this trend is to end. Since you are based in the North, what is the current situation there with regard to the narcotics trade? Nothing has changed in the past few years. It has not lessened; if at all, it has got worse. The trade originates at sea and is smuggled in. However, to smuggle it into the country, they must do it with the support of the authorities. Both the drug racketeers and authorities are working hand in glove.