Itanagar: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein on Thursday said the Arunachal Pradesh government is serious and determined to curb the problem of drug abuse in the state.
“To curb drug menace, the state government has adopted the ‘Arunachal Pradesh Policy on Psychoactive Substance-2021’ which is based on three pillars of supply reduction, demand reduction and harm reduction. Under harm reduction, the government has plans to establish state-of-the-art treatment and rehabilitation centers in Namsai, Itanagar and Bomdila,” Mein said.
He also informed that the government has also increased the fund allocation under Chief Minister Nasha Mukti Abhiyan from Rs 4 crore to Rs 15 crore this year for the same.
The DCM was interacting with the participants of the ‘special drug de-addiction camp’ organized by the Lotong Adi Banggo Kebang (LABK) at the Government Upper Primary School in New Jengthu near here.
A total of 38 drug addicts are undergoing de-addiction treatment in the 3-month-long camp.
Mein further exhorted the drug addicts to give away their bad habits and return to the mainstream and become better human beings.
He also called upon the students, addicted to drugs, to not waste their time by indulging in such harmful activities but to concentrate on their studies.
Further lauding the LABK for organizing the camp he said: “We need to guide the younger generation in the right path and lay the foundation of a strong society. So let us join hands in making Namsai an ideal district.”
Local MLA Chau Zingnu Namchoom in his address called for strengthening the Gaon Burah institutions and working in a coordinated manner to check and stop drug trafficking in villages.
Namsai deputy commissioner R K Sharma informed that a total of 121 drug addicts have been so far identified in the district and called for more de-addiction camps to be held in other places.
Among others, SP D W Thongdok, Adi Bane Kebang Namsai president Bolen Ratan, general secretary Birku Dai, LABK drug de-addiction committee chairman Lakar Paleng and Namsai gaon bura Ratna Taduk also spoke on the occasion.
