'IRCA Jiribam needs more bed'
Source: The Sangai Express

Jiribam, December 05 2019: The New Incarnation Drug De-Addiction cum Rehabilitation Centre (Integrated Rehabilitation Centre for Addiction) at Kalinagar in Jiribam needs more bed to increase its capacity, said its project co-ordinator, S Jiten Singh today.

IRCA is a 30 bedded centre which was established on March 1, 2002 under the Youth Development Organisation, Sagolband, Tera Bazar, Imphal, he said.

It currently has 50 inmates with one medical officer, one senior counsellor, two counsellors, one Yoga therapist, one social worker, one nurse, one ward boy, one HIV field worker, an accountant, a chowkidar, a sweeper and a project coordinator who oversees the functioning of the centre.

The inmates are given daily chores and exercises to keep their minds away from drugs.

They are daily engaged in meditation, physical training, yoga, reading, group therapy, counselling, games etc besides other chores for rehabilitation and their growth for becoming responsible persons, Jiten said.

Speaking about his experience at the centre and expressing the measures required to give drug users 'new meaning' to their lives, Jiten said drug abuse is not an isolated issue.

Drug abuse affects the person and his/her surroundings and society.

A centre or an agency alone can not control and curb drug abuse.

Curbing drub abuse and rehabilitating the drug users need collective efforts of the society as a whole, Jiten said.

Curbing the rising drug abuse needs both demand reduction and supply reduction, he said.

"What we are doing is drug demand reduction.

This is not enough to stop drug abuse.

Drug supply reduction needs strong political will and Government is responsible for enforcing strict regulations and Acts to check illegal drug flow," Jiten said.

Mizoram Government had its drug policy in 2016 and Manipur still has not devised one.

The State Government should formulate a strict drug policy to check rampant drug abuse, he added.

"If the State is not serious enough to draw a drug policy and act on to curb drug abuse, our future looks dim as young children and youth are the victims of drug abuse," he added.

IRCA's senior counsellor also expressed the need to increase the centre's capacity and urged authority concerned to prove more beds and other facilities for successful functioning.

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