GoM directed to examine draft national policy for drug demand

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed a group of ministers (GoM) to examine the draft national policy for drug demand reduction which seeks to address the problem of drug and substance abuse in the country.
The GoM is headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and comprises of Health Minister, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Women and Child Development Minister, Transport Minister and Minister of Home Affairs, said a senior official from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
"The Ministry had sent the draft national policy for drug demand reduction to the Cabinet in April. Now the Prime Minister has referred it to a GoM to examine the draft policy and make its recommendations," the official said.

The official said that the draft policy was redrafted by the Ministry in January following directions from the Prime Ministers Office which found the original draft to the very lengthy.
The redrafted policy mainly focuses on the rehabilitation aspect of the victims apart from the covering two broad areas -- the illicit drugs including cannabis, heroin and opium and the other, pharmaceutical preparations like tranquilisers and inhalants.
The policy emphasises on strengthening coordination among various regulatory agencies concerned to check the diversion of substances from lawful channels to illicit networks, including internet pharmacies.

The objective of the policy is to undertake drug demand reduction efforts to address all forms of drug use, including misuse and dependence, to create awareness about the ill-effects of drugs abuse on the individual, family, workplace and the society at large.

It also aims to provide for a whole range of community based services for the identification, motivation, counselling, de-addiction, after care and rehabilitation for Whole Person Recovery (WPR) of addicts and facilitate research, training, documentation and collection of relevant information to strengthen the above mentioned objectives.
"Drug and substance abuse is a serious problem and addiction to drugs not only affects the individuals health but also disrupts their families and the whole society.
"Regular consumption of various psychoactive substances leads to drug dependence of the individual. Drug abuse needs to be viewed as a psychosocial-medical problem, which requires a combination of medical treatment and psychosocial intervention. Of late the menace of drug abuse in the younger generation has been rising all over the world and India is no exception to it," the official said.