TREATMENT, REHABILITATION AND SOCIAL REINTEGRATION OF DRUG ADDICTS

NATURE AND EXTENT OF DRUG ABUSE

1. Drug addiction is increasingly becoming an area of concern as traditional moorings, effective social taboos, emphasis on self-restraint and pervasive control and discipline of the joint family and community are eroding with industrialization and urbanization.

2. Both traditional and semi-synthetic and synthetic drugs are abused. Intravenous drug use and HIV/AIDS driven by such use have added a new dimension to the problem, especially in the North-eastern states of the country.

3. A National Survey of Drug abuse was conducted in 2001. It had three major components (i) National Household Survey, (ii) Rapid Assessment Survey and (iii) Drug Abuse Monitoring System which analysed the profile of treatment seekers. There were sub-studies on drug abuse among rural population, prison population, women, and in border areas. The survey and studies indicated that commercial sex workers, transportation workers, and street children are at greater risk of addiction to drugs than the general population.

4. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is making preparations for a new survey of drug abuse. A mechanism shall be identified to assess the extent of drug abuse in the country through National Household Survey or otherwise. Such survey shall be repeated every five years so that the change and pattern of drug abuse can be studied and the impact of various measures taken for reduction in drug supply and demand can be assessed.

DRUG DEMAND REDUCTION

5. Drug abuse is a result of two factors- the availability of drugs and the psycho-social conditions which result in their abuse. Hence, equal emphasis will be placed on supply and demand reduction. Demand reduction also has two components- treating the drug addicts and educating and enabling the society to prevent addiction and to rehabilitate addicts after they have been treated. Thus, drug abuse is a psycho-socio medical problem, which needs both medical intervention and community based interventions. Hence, the Govt. of India has a three-pronged strategy for demand reduction consisting of: i. Building awareness and educating people about ill effects of drug abuse. ii. Dealing with the addicts through programme of motivational counselling, treatment, follow-up and social-reintegration of recovered addicts. iii. To impart drug abuse prevention/rehabilitation training to volunteers with a view to build up an educated cadre of service providers.

Of the above, treatment is the component which directly targets drug addiction. India has a two-pronged strategy towards it- (a) running de-addiction centres in Government hospitals; and (b) supporting NGOs involved in this endeavour. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India runs over 100 drug-de-addiction centres in various Government hospitals across the country. The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has been implementing a Scheme for Prohibition and Drug Abuse Prevention since the year 1985-86. At present, under this Scheme, the GOI supports 361 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) running; 376 De-addiction-cum-Rehabilitation Centres, De-addiction Camps, and 68 Counselling and Awareness Centres. GOI bears the major portion of the cost of services provided at these Centres. Government shall ensure that there is easy access to the services of motivational counselling, treatment, and rehabilitation provided by the Government through NGOs or its own institutions. There shall be appropriate involvement of the ‘National Consultative Committee on De-addiction and Rehabilitation’ on all issues relating to prevention, de-addiction, rehabilitation and harm reduction.

Awareness and Preventive Education

6. The Counselling and Awareness Centres run by NGOs and supported by MSJ&E conduct a wide range of awareness generation programmes through village panchayats, schools, etc. MSJ&E also educates people about the ill effects of drug abuse and disseminates information on service delivery through print and audiovisual media.

Training and Manpower Development – Development of Service Providers

7. The National Drug Dependence Treatment Training Centre at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi trains doctors in treatment of drug addicts. The National Centre for Drug Abuse Prevention (NC-DAP) under the National Institute of Social Defence, New Delhi, trains those who work in NGOs in drug de-addiction.

8. Over the years, several De-addiction Centres have come up in private sector. The Central Government shall lay down standards and guidelines for De-addiction Centres to follow and shall recognize such centres as are found to be meeting the standards and following the guidelines. The centres so recognized shall be ‘recognized treatment centres’ under Section 64A of NDPS Act.