Shillong, June 15: The state government has adopted a two-pronged strategy to deal with the menace of drugs abuse.
One is to involve the religious organisations as part of its fight against the problem of drug menace in the state and the second is to work on the hotspots, including Shillong.
A meeting was convened by the minister with the leaders of the different religious organisations at the Secretariat here on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters, Paul said important suggestions have emerged from the meeting on the need to up the ante against the narcotic situation, increase the intensity of counselling, awareness programmes and de-stigmatisation of the drug users.
“As a result of the discussions, we agreed on a two-pronged approach. The first is to involve the various faith organisations in coming forward and joining the campaign against drug abuse”, he said.
The minister said the government has earmarked a Rs 10 crore per year, which will workout at Rs 50 crore in five years for the implementation of the elimination of drug and substance use.
He said the faith organisations have been requested to go back and have their inhouse consultations.
“We will then based on their requirements fund the publicity campaign”, Paul said.
“Also I had suggested that since a lot of schools also come under these organisations, students can be asked to take a pledge on a daily basis to not abuse himself or engage in activities that lead to narcotic addiction,” he added.
The minister said the government has also decided to intensify the anti-drug campaign in the seven districts identified as ‘drug hotspots’ and other districts of the state.
“As a pilot project, we will start first with Shillong since it is a major hotspot. We will zone Shillong into various zones. There will be regular interactions and review of the extent of the problem, identification of users, identification of peddlers and coordination with all line departments, the Dorbar Shnong and the social welfare department and health department,” he said.
Paul said the faith leaders will be meeting on June 19 and post that they will come back to the government with their proposals.
The department will also widen the scope of the third meeting by also inviting traditional heads and NGOs to discuss the issue.
“As I said, we have identified hotspot districts. We will concentrate on those but at the same, we will be alloting funds to all the districts and NGOs, faith organisations and other such entities with credible credentials can also come forward but at this stage we first approach faith organisations because they have the infrastructure, they have the churches, they have the schools so based on that consideration, we have asked them to come up with proposals so that the pilot projects can take off immediately”, he said.
As religious organisations play a very big role in Meghalaya, Lyngdoh said, “We should start preaching openly about drug addiction and how parents and how as responsible citizens we should, beginning from home, start to curb and eliminate drug abuse. They are a very significant players in moulding the future of Meghalaya.”
On more rehabilitation centres, the minister said that the social welfare department is funding and supporting 11 de-addiction centres. Setting up of another four new centres has also been proposed.
“Everybody including church organisations are also invited to come up with proposals and whatever support they require from the government we will be there to support,” he said.
