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With a million plus addicts and very few rehab centres, the Nasha Mukt Abhiyan needs to move beyond the numbers game
The fact that 9,000 awareness activities and 4.51 lakh have been achieved under J&K Nasha Mukt Abhiyan is quite a feat. But for parents who are watching their children get hooked on heroin, the question remains is quite simple: where do they send their children for treatment?
The numbers tell a darker story. Studies show that over 52,000 people in Kashmir are opioid-dependent, with 95 percent of them hooked on heroin. Of these, 52 percent are injecting heroin, which costs them an average of Rs 88,000 monthly. The Standing Committee on Social Justice reported that 1.68 lakh children between ages 10 and 17 are involved in drug use in J&K.
In this scenario, the Nasha Mukt campaign has managed to rehabilitate only 218 people. Awareness programs are good but, addiction is a medical problem that needs a medical solution, not text messages and lectures.
The chasm of infrastructure is mind-boggling. Although there are 20 government-run Addiction Treatment Facilities, only 11 are in Kashmir and nine are in Jammu, and these are most outpatient facilities. J&K does not have functional long-term rehabilitation centre. Families are forced to make a heart wrenching decision: shell out of lakhs of rupees in private sectors outside the valley or watch their loved ones hit rock bottom.
IMHANS’ Dr. Yasir Rather explained that most private centres function as business ventures not as humanitarian endeavours. IMHANS handles 150 new addiction cases everyday, including 15 adolescents. Although the National Action Plan has identified twelve priority districts in J&K for comprehensive De-Addiction Centres with residential facilities, not a single facility has been made operational yet.
The government’s digital initiatives such as connecting portals, mapping counsellors, and developing tracking systems are good initiatives. Chief Secretary Dulloo is right to direct IMHANS to develop recognised courses. However, technology is of little use without beds, without residential facilities, without physical infrastructure to treat thousands of youth in need.
Take for example the addict’s characteristics: 29.9 percent dependency rates for cannabis users, and 88.8 percent dependency and 83.4 percent multiple drug abuse rates for heroin users. The withdrawal symptoms for Heroin are extremely painful requiring monitored medical detoxification. But where can a family from Shopian avail of this without traveling out of country?
The 218 rehabilitations are to be commended, each one a life restored. But at this place, it would take centuries to deal with the problem. The movement requires residential facilities in every district, not just addiction centres. It requires 300-bed with the capacity of 90 day programmes not day-long seminars. It requires support groups, family therapy and job assistance for addicts.
Though the awareness for the affected groups must continue, the government must start the immediate operationalization of the twelve promised De-Addiction Centres with complete residential facilities and subsidized services. Since J&K is located near the Golden Crescent, the availability of drugs will never be an issue. The only factor that we can control is the availability of treatment.
Nine thousand awareness programs indicate that the government has the ability to mobilize. Now, it has to direct this momentum towards the construction of facilities where lives can actually be saved. The Nasha Mukt Abhiyan has shown its reach. What it lacks is depth, that is, not the number of participants but the addicts who have been successfully rehabilitated and are still clean a year after.
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