The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has drawn up a detailed policy on drug abuse prevention and rehabilitation that will provide the basic framework for drugs demand reduction.
“This draft policy has been sent to the States for consultation. The comments have also been invited from the other stakeholders and general public through Ministry’s website,” said Kumari Selja, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE), speaking at the first ever national awards for outstanding services in the field of alcoholism and substance abuse on Wednesday.
“Alcohol and drug addiction has increasingly become an area of concern as the traditional effective social pressure, which emphasise on self-restraint and pervasive control, and social discipline are eroding,” she said.
The MSJE Minister blamed the fast changing social milieu, saying that it was among the major factors contributing to the proliferation of drug abuse, both of traditional and of new psychoactive substances. Selja blamed the introduction of synthetic drugs and intravenous drug use leading to increased cases of HIV and AIDS.
The Minister said that a strong need has been felt to have a national policy on prevention of alcoholism and substance (drugs) abuse and rehabilitation of its victims. The Ministry of finance has also brought out a national policy on narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances in 2012. The main thrust of this policy is aimed at supply control of these drugs.
“Adolescent drug abuse is one of the major areas of concern. The worst part is that a majority of drug users are in the most productive age group of 18-35 years,” said Selja. The Ministry is also focusing its attention on adolescents and youth in school and colleges, who are particularly vulnerable by initiating awareness drives among the youth and children in collaboration with Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan and National Bal Bhavan.
President Pranab Mukherjee, who presented the national awards, said, “We need to make a greater effort to generate awareness of the deleterious effects of drug abuse in a sustained, continuous and result-oriented manner.”
“While de-addiction and rehabilitation centres have an important role to play, appropriate and timely educational inputs would be most effective in steering the curious, or those at risk, away from such substances,” he said.