The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented the National Awards for outstanding services in the field of Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse, coinciding with the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking at a function here today.

Congratulating the awardees and conveying his appreciation for their efforts and achievements the President said that you represent the spirit of hope and you will inspire many. This is the first time that these awards have been conferred in India. This is a well deserved recognition of institutions and individuals who, with a strong will and courage have achieved difficult goals while addressing a very challenging social problem.

The President also said that we need to make a greater effort to generate awareness of the deleterious effects of drug abuse in a sustained, continuous and result oriented manner. He stated that while de-addiction and rehabilitation centers have an important role to play, appropriate and timely educational inputs would be most effective in steering the curious, or those at risk, away from such substances. He emphasized that efforts should be made to develop a nationwide, community-based system of prevention that connects stakeholders at every level. Together, and hand in hand with local organizations, they can deliver solutions that are responsive to the diverse and specific needs of the affected and the susceptible.

Welcoming the President, Kumari Selja, the Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment said that the presentation of the National Awards today is befitting as we also observe the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking to reiterate our commitment to the cause of Substance (Drug) Abuse Prevention. The problem of the growing menace of the drug abuse can only be tackled by taking a balanced approach, which works simultaneously on both the demand and supply aspects. The approach has to be comprehensive and sensitive to the emerging dimensions of the problem. While the supply control aspects are looked after by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment focuses on drug demand reduction aspect.

The Minister added that in recent years, alcohol and drug addiction has increasingly become an area of concern as the traditional effective social pressure, which emphasize on self-restraint and pervasive control, and social discipline are eroding. The fast changing social milieu, among other factors, is mainly contributing to the proliferation of drug abuse, both of traditional and of new psychoactive substances. The introduction of synthetic drugs and intravenous drug use leading to HIV/ AIDS has added new dimensions to the problem.

The Minister also said that the problem of drug abuse and health hazards of its victims is a multi-dimensional one. Various Central Ministries/Departments, State Government Departments, Civil Society, NGOs, Media and Social Workers are stakeholders to it. In order to bring all the stakeholders together on a common platform, a National Consultative Committee on De-addiction and Rehabilitation (NCCDR) was constituted in July, 2008. The mandate of the Committee is to advise the Central and State Governments on issues connected with drug demand reduction, especially on education and awareness building, de-addiction and rehabilitation.

The Minister further added that the Ministry recognizes that drug abuse is a psycho-socio-medical problem, which can be best handled by adoption of a family/ community-based approach by active involvement of NGOs/ Community Based Organizations (CBOs). Therefore, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, as the nodal agency for drug demand reduction programme in the country, has adopted a three pronged strategy for demand reduction. The first strategy is awareness generation and educating people about ill effects of drug abuse.

Adolescent drug abuse is one of the major areas of concern. The worst part is that a majority of drug users are in the most productive age group of 18-35 years.  Keeping this in view, the Ministry has taken up awareness generation drives among the youth and children in collaboration with Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan and National Bal Bhavan. The Ministry is also focusing its attention on adolescents and youth in school and colleges, who are particularly vulnerable. Initiatives are being taken to include appropriate material in school curriculum and work out Training of Teachers’ module for the sensitization of teachers and parents in the school environment.

The impact of drug abuse on the street children in our country is also a major issue. To address the problems faced by the street children, it is necessary to work in close coordination with the NGOs in managing the addiction treatment and rehabilitation services especially for children.

Elaborating further the Minster said that the second strategy is community based intervention for motivational counseling, identification, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts.

In this regard, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is implementing a Central Sector Scheme of Financial Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse, since 1985. The scope of the scheme includes preventive awareness generation, dissemination of information, early intervention, treatment and rehabilitation to ensure reintegration of the addicts into the social mainstream.  Under the Scheme, more than 400 Integrated Rehabilitation Centers for Addicts (IRCAs), being run by Non-Government Organizations, all over the country are being supported. There is also a provision for giving financial assistance to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) for running projects under the scheme.

The third strategy is training of volunteers/service providers and other stakeholders with a view to build up a committed and skilled cadre, added the Minister.

Effective and appropriate service delivery demands regular professional development of the service providers in terms of skills and strategies for dealing with addiction.  In this regard, a Manual of Minimum Standards has been prepared in consultation with the experienced NGOs to provide clear guidelines to the implementing agencies for developing their programmes, in tune with acceptable standards, in service delivery.

The National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), an autonomous body under the Ministry, is regularly organizing training programmes for capacity building of NGOs. In addition, ten voluntary organizations having long experience and expertise in treatment, rehabilitation, training and research are designated as Regional Resource & Training Centers (RRTCs) for training of service providers, research, advocacy, monitoring etc, at the regional/ state levels.

The Minister said that a strong need has been felt to have a National Policy on Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (drugs) abuse and rehabilitation of its victims and was pleased to inform that Ministry of Finance has already brought out a National Policy on Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in 2012.  The main thrust of this policy is supply control.

The Minister informed that a detailed policy on Drug Abuse Prevention and Rehabilitation that will provide the basic framework for drugs demand reduction has been prepared by the Ministry.  This draft policy has been sent to the states for consultation. The comments have also been invited from the other stakeholders and general public through Ministry’s website.

 On the Occasion, the message of the UN Secretary General was read by the Representative of UNODC

Present on the occasion were Shri Manikrao Hodlya Gavit, Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Shri Sudhir Bhargava, Secretary,  Shri Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Additional Secretary and other  Senior officers from the Ministry.

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