In recognition of the efforts of United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to eliminate the drug menace worldwide, every year June
26th is observed as the International Day against Drug Abuse and
Illicit Trafficking, which serves as a grim reminder of the need to combat the
deleterious hazards to society posed by illicit drugs. As per World Drug
Report, 2012 published by UNODC, about 230 million people, or 5 per cent of the
world’s adult population, are estimated to have used an illicit drug at least
once in 2010. It is also estimated that there were between 99,000 to 253,000
deaths globally in 2010 as a result of illicit drug use, accounting for 0.5 to
1.3 per cent of all-cause mortality among those aged between 15-64 years.
Illicit drugs undermine economic and social development and contribute towards
crime, instability, insecurity besides negative health consequences including
the spread of HIV. Expressed in monetary terms, USD 200-250 billion would be
needed to cover all costs related to drug treatment worldwide.
India
is wedged between the world’s two largest areas of illicit opium production,
the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle. A joint national survey conducted
by UNODC and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, GOI in 2004 showed
that the number of chronic substance-dependent individuals were 10 million
(alcohol), 2.3 million (cannabis) and 0.5 million (opiates). In the state of Jammu and Kashmir too drug abuse has
assumed alarming and epidemic proportions with large number of school and
college going youth falling prey to the scourge including a large number of
females. Prescription drug abuse is of particular concern among our population.
According to a United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP)
sponsored survey, Kashmir division alone had 70,000 drug addicts including 4000
women in the year 2008. However a more recent survey entitled, “Community drug
abuse study survey in Kashmir” by valley’s renowned psychiatrist Dr Mushtaq
Margoob and his team has revealed that there are 24.32 lakh substance abusers
(including tobacco abusers) in Kashmir, which includes 2.11 lakh opioid, 1.37
lakh cannabis, and around 38,000 alcohol abusers. As per this study, around 35%
of boys of very prestigious schools from 8th standard to 12th standard use
these substances daily.
Children
and adolescents who suffer from neglect, abuse, household dysfunction, exposure
to violence and instability are at particular risk of substance abuse. In
Kashmir major causes of drug abuse have been linked to long standing conflict
and frequent unrest, large scale unemployment and illiteracy, stressful social
life, educational and family stress, lack of sports amenities and recreational
avenues, easy availability of scheduled prescription products over-the-counter,
select areas turning out to be hot pockets of illicit drug use, lack of
enforcement mechanism and government control over substance abuse, mushroom
growth of licensed drug stores and large scale corruption in the society. Drug dependence and illicit drug use are associated with
health problems, poverty, violence, criminal behavior, and social exclusion. However,
drug dependence is a preventable and treatable disease, and effective
prevention and treatment interventions are very much possible. Best results are
achieved when a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach that includes
diversified pharmacological and psychosocial interventions is adopted.
Unfortunately in many societies drug dependence is still
not recognized as a health problem and many people suffering from it are
stigmatized and have no access to treatment and rehabilitation. The notion that
drug dependence could be considered a “self-acquired disease”, has contributed
to stigma and discrimination associated with drug dependence. However,
scientific evidence indicates that the development of the disease is a result
of a complex multi-factorial interaction between repeated exposure to drugs,
and biological and environmental factors. Attempts to treat and prevent drug
use through tough penal sanctions for drug users fail because they do not take
into account the neurological changes drug dependence has on motivation
pathways in the brain. Supportive families are essential to raising socially,
mentally and physically healthy and well-adjusted children and preventing later
adolescent problems. Factors such as a lack of security, trust and warmth in
parent-child relationships, a lack of structure in family life and
inappropriate discipline practices and insufficient limit-setting can render
children at greater risk of problematic behaviours and subsequent substance
abuse and mental health disorders. Therefore family skills training programmes
have been found to be effective in preventing many of these risky behaviours,
including substance abuse.
Regular
awareness and counseling programmes through outdoor camps, open air theatres,
dramas, painting competitions, video displays etc need to be conducted in every
school and college across the state against drug abuse in order to acquaint the
students with the dangers and consequences of such addiction. Each and every
educational institute must have a full-time position available for a counselor
who could either be a qualified psychiatrist or a trained clinical
psychologist, who should entrusted with the job of undertaking student
counseling from department to department on regular basis and address their
stress management or drug de-addiction needs. Govt. must secure slots for drug
awareness campaigns in the middle of most popular and widely viewed television
programmes. Each school and college must procure a drug-addiction detection kit
that come at an affordable price for regular detection of drug abusers. This
will act as a strong deterrent too. Similar kits can be used by the police for
truck drivers and drivers of public transport vehicles.
State government must come out with a comprehensive and
discrete policy against drug addiction and chalk out a robust and time-bound
action plan at division, district and block levels. An effective coordination
and collaboration between various govt. agencies and multiple stake-holders
needs to be fostered. A coordinated response of government and non-governmental
organizations can be highly effective for drug abuse prevention. Drug
de-addiction centres need to be established at all district headquarters with
sufficient trained staff and bed strength besides a full-fledged drug
de-addiction and rehabilitation centre at the divisional level. Drug sale licences must not be made free for all.
Particularly licences to stock and sell schedule X drugs and psychotropic
substances must be restricted to a few chosen chemists with an unblemished
track record. Sale and purchase records of such drugs must be checked
continuously and severe penalties must be imposed upon the defaulters. OTC sale
of prescription drugs must be stopped.
Involvement of all sections of the society and the
government officials like police, traffic police, medical health officers,
school and college teachers, principals, religious preachers, housing
societies, mohalla committees, drug control and excise officials can go a long
way in not only creating awareness and preventing abuse but also in identifying
magnitude of the problem in each locality and motivating the abusers towards
the rehabilitation. Social engineering is of crucial importance in preventing
drug addiction. Perpetual sermons through religious preachers during weekly
religious congregations can have a durable impact in discouraging drug abuse.
Govt. action plan must begin with identification of vulnerable areas that are
prone and sensitive to drug trafficking and illicit use and therefore require
focused attention and strategic action. Government needs to strengthen its
intelligence apparatus for improving collection, collation, analysis and
dissemination of operational intelligence regarding illicit drugs. There must
be a reward policy for giving information about drug trafficking or abuse. Let us make health our “New High” in life,
not Drugs.
