De-addiction policy
UT of Jammu and Kashmir recently framed drug de-addiction policy to control the situation on the ground level. There would be divisional level de-addiction monitoring committees.
These committees have been assigned the task of inspecting the existing de-addiction facilities in Jammu and Kashmir and grant or cancel licenses after thorough inspection of infrastructure, manpower and standards of care. The committees have also been entrusted with the task of advising various stakeholders from time to time in implementation of Drug De-addiction Policy on ground and look at monitoring of prescription drug abuse and suggest remedial measures to the Drug Controller.
The policy also focuses on various key aspects including prevention, rehabilitation and integration, training and sensitization, community participation, generating awareness and upgradation/establishment of drug de-addiction centers.
It lays out a comprehensive action plan for addressing the drug addiction issue in its entirety. There has been a steep rise in physical, mental and substance-use disorders over the past two decades across the UT. There has been an alarming shift in the pattern of substance use in terms of rise in the number of female users, decreasing age at first-use, increasing use of solvents, injectable-opiates and use of steroids as well as increasing drug related deaths (over- dose and accidents). For effective surveillance and law enforcement, the government has also constituted the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) in coordination with the Excise and Agriculture departments to map the expected cultivation areas and take remedial actions in terms of destruction of illegal crops on both private and government lands.
