Drug abuse cases rising

PATNA: As in other parts of the country, the cases of abuse of drugs have been rising alarmingly in Bihar over the past few years.

According to Bihar State Crime Records Bureau (BSCRB) data (a copy of which is available with TOI), the state police have registered a constant rise in the number of cases lodged against drug peddlers and addicts over the past few years.

A total of 311 cases of drug abuse were lodged in 2009, against 283 in 2008.

"The department is in the process of compiling the records of cases lodged against drug peddlers in 2010. The record is likely to be compiled by May 2011," a source in BSCRB said. However, he apprehended that the number would be anywhere above 350.

According to a state-wide survey, conducted by a city-based NGO, Disha, the number of registered drug addicts has grown by about 1400 in the past one year. The present number of registered drug addicts in Bihar is 4759. It was only 3372 last year.

As per reports, the state government had proposed to set up de-addiction centres at six major medical college hospitals way back in 1999. But the proposal was not followed up and put on backburner. It resurfaced in 2001, but was put on the backburner again.

"I do not have any information about such a proposal," a senior official in the department of social security and disability, government of Bihar, said.

The department of social welfare, which at present has no concerted programme to effectively deal with the menace, is working only to spread awareness among people about the ill-effects of drugs.

"We are dealing with the addicts through a programme of motivational counselling, treatment, follow-up and social-reintegration of recovered addicts," a senior official in the department of social welfare, government of Bihar, said. He, however, hoped that the new government would seriously try to check the unprecedented growth in the number of drug addicts."

In such a grim scenario, the fate of addicts in Bihar is left to the National Consultative Committee on De-addiction and Rehabilitation (NCCDR).

According to data obtained from NCCDR (a copy of which is also available with TOI), a total of 11 NGOs are supported under the Scheme of Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse in Bihar. These NGOs are situated in Patna, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Kaimur, Kishanganj, Jehanabad, West Champaran, Gopalganj and Sasaram. A meagre sum of Rs 9.4 lakh annually is given to these drug de-addiction centres.

NCCDR claims these centres adopt a wide variety of approaches, systems and methodologies for treatment and rehabilitation of addicts. All these centres have experts from various fields like doctors, counsellors, community workers, social workers etc.

Thanks to their limitations, these centres are unable to cater to the growing number of drug addicts. The number is rising in the absence of a strong and effective mechanism of the state government to address the issue head-on.