Shillong, May 14: Social welfare minister Paul Lyngdoh said the latest record shows that the number of drug addicts has gone upto 2.5 lakh including women and minors.
“In a state having 35 lakh population, 2.5 lakh as addicts is rather grim”, Paul told reporters.
He said in Shillong city, 12 to 15 localities were identified where the incidents of use of narcotics and injections are very high and these are linked to rise in cases of HIV too.
“We are sitting on top of a volcano. It is high time for the civil societies and religious institutions to also step in”, he added.
The minister said central support will be sought to set up government rehabilitation centres.
He stressed the need of eradicating drug abuse in the state with the support of all concerned.
“We need the support and cooperation of various departments. We have the NDPS Act but we have also noticed that the state has a role to frame its own rules under this Act.So we will revisit those rules to make them more stringent and also the need to put the onus of responsibility on the persons detained under NDPS”, he said.
