Imphal, May 06: Recovering Alliance of MNP+, a wing of MNP+ working for the promotion of Drug Substitution programme among other objectives has highlighted the grievances being faced on the subject of drug use, recovery and HIV/AIDS related problem.

In a memorandum submitted to the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar who was on a three-day visit to Manipur since May 4 pointed out that the endeavour to adequately address the needs and requirement of the drug using population in the State as well as incidental issues like HIV/AIDS have been encountering numerous obstacles.

Highlighting some of these obstacles, the memorandum jointly signed by its officiating secretary Rajesh Khongbantabam, president L Bhumeshore, treasurer E Bikram and office bearer NC Pari Meitei contended that the numerous and over mushrooming de-addiction centre in the State has a very poor turn out of recovery owing largely to the non-adherence to the prescribed minimum standards of service.

The admission as well as monthly fees charged by most of these centres are not regulated and exorbitantly expensive thereby action as a deterrent factor to prospective recovering addicts.

Therefore, regulation of and actual implementation of the prescribed minimum standards of service in the de-addiction centres in the State is the need of the hour, the memorandum said.

While conveying that the Alliance is comprised of about 150 members, a majority of who are on the path to recovery by availing the benefits of the Buprenor-phine Substitution Programme under the aegis of Emmaneul Hospital Association (EHA), the memorandum asserted that the programme has a high success rate in the State in the rehabilitation and reintegration of recovering addicts into the mainstream.

This is largely due to the high acceptance rate of the said programme among the drug using population as it does not involve any cost factor, it said.

On lack of specific scheme for HIV infected/affected widows and children, the memorandum noted that the State is yet to witness a specific scheme catering to the needs and requirements of HIV infected and affected women and children due to which they have been forced to remain as a closeted section of the society.

Similarly, the State is yet to establish a children home for the HIV infected and affected children and such children are left high and dry at the mercy of their own fate, the memorandum said, while observing that the existing children homes in the State are mostly NGO run ones under specific schemes and they are not in a position to provide shelter or treatment to these marginalised children.

The memorandum further asserted that most de-addiction and rehabilitation centres in the State provide only clinical treatment to inmates after which they are discharged.

Due to this failure to sufficiently equip a recovering addict in assisting him/her to re-integrate himself/herself in to the mainstream, the rate of relapse is usually high and imperatively inevitable.

Emphasising on the need for greater involvement of IDUs in the treatment programme, the memorandum said the lessons learnt from successful implementation of drug related issues can be assessed from the case study of drug users based organisation which involved the ex-drug users.

However, the present scenario of treatment centre in the State marginalised the user community as most of the service providers at these centres does not come from drug using background.

This turn out to be hindrance in the drug abuse prevention scheme of the Ministry, the memorandum said.

It is imperative that a drug user find himself at ease to identity with an ex-drug users and open up himself, it added.

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