Drug-free India campaign held at Bhandari

Dimapur, Feb. 20 (EMN): Continuing with the ongoing drug-free India campaign, the Social Welfare department in collaboration with ARK Foundation and Bethesda YWC organised a stakeholders sensitisation workshop on ‘Substance use-prevention and treatment’ at Bhandari town hall in Wokha district on February 19.

An update from ARK Foundation stated that resource persons were Ketho Angami, president of ARK Foundation and Maong Jamir. It added that SDO Civil; Wango Langsym, assistant director and nodal officer; and WC Humtsoe, executive director of BYWC, also addressed the audience on the importance of substance-use prevention and early treatment.

In his opening remarks, SDO (C) mentioned that there are still certain groups of people who continue to use while there are also people who are willing to quit their habit but were unable to do. Bhandari being a hub centre for many socio economic activities, he stated that substance use also becomes a major concern in the area due to its porous border with Assam.

He also mentioned that substance use is not only a problem for an individual alone but also for the family and the society at large. He urged the upcoming generation to stay away from drugs.

Ketho Angami, in his powerpoint presentation, shared an overview of drug addiction in the state of Nagaland spanning four decades and stated that addiction has vastly effected the health and lives of the drug users and the society at large. Pointing out that drug addiction has affected every town and village across the state, he stated that Bhandari area has significant number of drug users. In this regard, he lauded the Social Welfare department for conducting such programmes across the state and also called for a concerted effort from all sections of the society.

On the nature of substance use, he stated that addiction is a disease as declared by the American Medical Association and the WHO in the year 1956 and 1958 respectively. He, therefore, stated that treatment should be towards helping the drug users rather than looking at them as criminals which is liable for prosecution.

He has attributed to peer pressure, curiosity, easy availability etc. as the reasons for people taking drugs. On the strategy towards addressing drug abuse, he suggested supply reduction, demand reduction and harm reduction, which are being implemented by various agencies.

In conclusion, he urged the need to work on primary prevention and also provide opportunity to the people who are already into the habit to seek treatment and come to recovery saying recovery from drug addiction is possible.

Sharing his experiences, WC Humtsoe recounted how massive awareness and sensitisation programmes were conducted during the early years when addiction was at its peak in Wokha district.

He lamented that denial by an individual himself and their families deterred them to seek treatment. He sought the support of all the stakeholders of Bhandari area and the department to continue working together in addressing the issue of drug addiction.

Maong Jamir, in his presentation, expressed the manner in which the society looked upon the drug users as criminal, sinner, weak willed, self inflicted, mental illness/ stupid etc. He stated that many approaches were applied to stop drug addiction and alcoholism through spiritual counselling, prayer centre, traditional lock ups, disowning, imprisonment, fines, expulsion, capital punishment, rehabilitation, NLTP Act, and community detox camps.

He further underlined the various roles of the churches, village councils, government departments and NGOs in order to prevent new entry into drug use and treatment of the already affected persons and their families.

In his concluding remarks, Wango Langsym highlighted about the national action plan for drug demand reduction under the MoSJE, which is being implemented by NISD from 2018-2023. The action plan included primary prevention of student community through the educational and allied department. He also urged the schools and educational institution in Bhandari to initiate such awareness programmes in their respective set ups. He further expressed his desire to conduct similar programmes with the village councils, churches and the teachers.

Host of stakeholders from Bhandari town comprising of various civil society organisations, churches, students, NGO partners and district administration attended the programme.