Drug addicts who have undergone treatment need to find a purpose in their lives to reduce the chances of them relapsing and employment is a key part of this, Mission Director of DREAM, the state government’s drug reduction programme, said at a function today.
Francis Kharshiing was interacting with individuals fighting substance abuse at the Shanti Bhavan house run by the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity. The sisters here have been feeding around 50 individuals everyday, including those struggling with substance abuse.
The DREAM Mission Director wanted to take the initiative to not only interact but to give the individuals fighting addiction an opportunity once they complete rehabilitation treatment. Kharshiing mentioned that the chances of relapse are very high in substance abuse unless the person finds another way out. “So, today we brought vocational department professionals so that it is seamless for individuals fighting substance abuse. Counsellors were brought to interact with them,” said Kharshiing.
Meghalaya Users’ Forum (MUF) Isaac also gave a touching testimony of how he fought addiction. He also mentioned how his fellow members at the users forum helped each other combat addiction. Isaac became an addict at the age of 18 years. He initially started drinking alcohol and then got addicted to marijuana. He was an addict for four years and he has now been clean for two years.
Shem Marbaniang, a counsellor, also interacted with the individuals and spoke to them of those dark days. Recalling his days as a musician, Marbaniang said that he made suicide attempts but survived and later found a purpose in life.
Meanwhile, Kharshiing mentioned that drug menace is a complex problem and cannot be addressed through only one aspect by saying police should work more to prevent and arrest smugglers, which is valid but it is a bigger issue.
“Recently I had gone for a health camp and when interacting with youths fighting substance abuse. I had encouraged them to come for counselling and treatment. The first thing that they said was that if it is free they are ready to come for the treatment. So I realised that we have very few rehab centres. Six are government-run and the rest are privately owned and each of these centres charges around Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000, which is a critical issue for youths,” said Kharshiing.
He also informed that he recently had a meeting with DCs of six districts which are hotspots and has appealed to them to partner with influential businessmen or private hospitals within their districts to encourage them to initiate new rehab centres.
