Approach to War on Drugs campaign
Demand reduction and harm reduction aspects stressed
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 22 2023: While it sounds good that the State Government has been carrying out an intensive drive against drug trafficking and poppy cultivation under its War on Drugs campaign, questions are being raised from several quarters on the lack of a comprehensive approach to the Government's attempt to curb the menace of drugs in the State.

NGOs and individuals working on drug/ substance abuse related issues have pointed out that the State needs to chalk out a strategy in order to ensure demand reduction and harm reduction besides supply reduction.

Talking to The Sangai Express in this regard, HoD, Department of Psychiatry, RIMS Dr S Gojendra said that all stakeholders need to work concurrently on supply reduction, demand reduction and harm reduction, if the drug issue should be addressed effectively.

While lauding the State Government's intensive drive against drug trafficking and poppy cultivation as a part of supply reduction scheme, he conveyed that the Department of Psychiatry, RIMS has been running its own Drug Treatment Clinic (DTC) under the scheme "Enhancing the functioning of Drug De-addiction Centres (DACs)", which is sponsored by the Drug De-Addiction Programme, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (DDAP, MoH&FW).

He went on to observe that there is an urgent requirement for increasing the number of drug treatment centres as well as the capacity for the already existing centres in the State, including the private set-ups as the number of drug abusers is quite high.

Noting that drug addiction is a critical issue that has been plaguing the Manipuri society for long, the HoD underscored the importance of treating drug addicts properly and rehabilitating them in order to bring them back in mainstream society.

"There is a misconception among the general public that drug addiction occurs due to lack of will power on the part of drug abusers.

However, drug addiction is a chronic relapsing illness which needs clinical treatment in order to wean the addicts from intoxicating substances", he added.

He further highlighted the inevitability of adopting a harm reduction strategy in addressing the issue of substance abuse, saying such efforts will reduce exposure of drug users and the general public to diseases like HIV and HCV.

Meanwhile, Community Network for Empowerment (CoNE) president RK Nalinikanta who has been proactively working on drug related issues expressed dissatisfaction on the lack of demand reduction and harm reduction strategies in the State.

He decried that the decades-old drug trafficking issue in the State has been victimizing the general populace by and large, irrespective of urban and rural areas and gender.

Informing that there are around 35,000 drug addicts in the State, he said that the total number of drug de-addiction centres and rehabilitation centres recognized by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the State is just 24 although there are around 75 rehab centres in total.

"If we see the ratio of the rehabilitation centres and the number of drug addicts in the State, there is a huge gap between the two", he continued adding that the total accommodation capacity of the rehabilitation centres is below 1000.He went on to say that the Government and the public should recognize the fact that drug addiction is a public health issue and all stakeholders must focus on rehabilitating drug addicts who all are victimized by the prolonged drug trafficking in the State.

Nalinikanta further pointed out that there are many districts in the State which do not have even one rehabilitation centre.

Asserting that the number of inmates dying inside rehabilitation centres have reached around 20 within a span of four years, he said that the State should effectively implement the "Manipur State Policy on Psychoactive Substances, 2019" which is already published in the State Gazette and regulate the rehabilitation centres.

"The failure to implement the State guideline/policy (Manipur State Policy on Psychoactive Substances, 2019) on the part of the State Social Welfare Department has led to the recurrence of unwanted incidents in the rehabilitation centres and mushrooming of illegitimate private drug treatment centres just for the sake of earning money," the CoNE president added.

Lauding the State Government's War on Drugs as a good strategy for drug supply reduction in the State, the CoNE president appealed to the Government to lay emphasis on demand reduction as well as harm reduction thereby opening at least a Government run rehabilitation centre and centre for facilitating harm reduction therapy in each district.

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