Urgent need to rehabilitate drug addicts: Pranab

There is an urgent need to provide community-based services for the identification, counselling and de-addiction of drug addicts along with their after-care and rehabilitation, President Prabnab Mukherjee said Thursday.

At an award ceremony here to recognise outstanding services in the field of prevention of alcohol and substance abuse, Mukherjee said alcoholism and drug abuse were psycho-social-medical problems requiring a holistic approach.

"The aim of the comprehensive treatment programme should not merely be to get the addicted individuals off alcohol or drugs. Focused attention on making the addicts productive members of the society by making them drug-free, crime-free and gainfully employed is what is required," he said.

The president said the importance of skill-building and vocational training of drug-dependent people for their social and economic reintegration cannot be over-emphasised.

The stress should be on mobilisation of community resources and greater community participation.

"Law enforcement agencies should be sensitised to the needs of victims of substance abuse to enable them to be rehabilitated and reintegrated in the society," he said.

"Generating continuous and sustained awareness through innovative methods about the harmful effects of drug abuse also assumes critical importance," he added.