CoNE pitches for implementing state drug policy
Source: Chronicle News Service / Niranjan Oinam

Imphal, May 14 2021: Occasional crackdowns in the vested interest of some individuals without implementing Manipur State Drug Policy cannot resolve the issue of drug menace that the state is facing, said Community Network for Empowerment (CoNE) president and Drug Users Federation for Human Rights and Justice (DUFHRJ) advisor RK Nalinikanta.

The issue of drug has been affecting the youth including young women, who are the pillars of the future society.

There are numerous young widows and fatherless children in the state as many lost their lives early due to drug abuse.

At the same time, several students have become astray from their career path after becoming addicted to drugs.

Today, young women are also starting to abuse drugs.

Around five per cent of the youth of the state use one or another type of drugs.

The Covid-19 crisis has worsened the situation as many young people are on the lookout of means to divert their loneliness.

In such a situation, encouraging the youth to stay away from drugs and bring them to the mainstream has become one of the most important challenges.

Several NGOs and intellectuals have time and again stated that punitive actions cannot solve the issue of drug menace and bring the drug users back to normal life.

Seizure of drug consignment alone is not enough to curb the illegal practice of drug trade.

Recently, a ruling MLA stated that the issue of drug can be resolved easily and swiftly if MLAs, ministers and police officers carry out their duties sincerely.

Speaking to The People's Chronicle in this regard, RK Nalinikanta emphasised on the need for three components in fighting the increasing menace of drugs.

The first component is to include proper education on prevention of drug abuse in school syllabus.

The second component is to enhance the quality of treatment, provide proper care, support and counselling to drug users in order to bring them out of the situation.

Just some crackdown against drug trade and drug users and taking up punitive actions alone cannot resolve the issue.

The society had seen activities of rounding up drug users and taking up punitive actions for over three decades but it did not help in bringing down the trend.

Drug users need proper care & support and enhancing treatment options like demand reduction and harm reduction, he maintained.

Under demand reduction, the few existing rehabilitation centres under the ministry of social justice and empowerment cannot cover all the drug users in the state and as such private rehabilitation centres have major roles to play.

However, the private centres do not even get technical support from the government, let alone financial support.

As a result, the private rehab centres have not been able to take up adequate measures.

Instead, some centres resorted to picking up random drug users from the street and forcing them to stay in their centre by demanding fees from their parents.

Though their objective for providing treatment to the drug users is good but their intention shows otherwise as if they care more about the fees.

With several such complaints cropping up from time to time, CoNE, KADAP and USER Manipur looked into the complaints and asked the rehab centres to stop such activities.

They also made similar appeals to all the private rehab centres in the state.

However, such incidents are reported from time to time.

Social welfare department is also turning a blind eye to such activities.

As a result, the three NGOs formed DUEHRJ and sought assistance from Manipur State Legal Services Authority, Manipur Human Rights Commission and High Court of Manipur to stop such activities.

Unfortunately, the authority has been ignoring the HC verdict and letting the private rehab centres to function freely, he said.

He also expressed concern that unwanted incidents would continue to crop up if the government does not enforce certain protocols for the private rehab centres to follow.

The third component is to put in place a mechanism to reintegrate those who have completed treatment with proper care and support so that they could get job security or income generation opportunity upon returning to the mainstream.

However, the state government has been failing to take up such initiatives.

Remaining unemployed or without any income after successfully completing treatment is a major reason for relapse and this will not help in bringing down the issue of drug menace in the society.

All these components are included in the Manipur State Drug Policy but the government is taking too long to implement it.

Officials concerned seem to be reluctant or ignorant of this issue or they do not care much about the drug users.

Unless there is a strong sense of responsibility to salvage the society from the problem of drug menace among the officials, the society will continue to suffer.

At the same time, sense of patriotism is a must to resolve the issue.

Selfish motives and greed for wealth are the main reasons for flooding of drugs worth of crore of rupees in the society and it is high time for all those involved to give up such greedy and anti-social activities, he contended.

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