As a major concern, more than 3000 fresh drug addicts have visited Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar’s Drug De-Addiction Centre in the last year.
This was revealed by Dr Yasir Hassan Rather, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, IMHANS, GMC Srinagar, during a workshop organised by the department on the International Day against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking, World Drug Day. Around 40 Imams (religious scholars) of the J&K Waqf Board also participated.
Dr Yasir, who was in-charge of the workshop, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that from March 2022 to March 2023, a total of 3036 new drug addicts visited the OPD of Drug De-addiction Centre at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.
He said that in the same period, 38,074 drug addicts including 36648 males and 222 females, who are on follow-up, visited the facility for treatment while 370 patients have visited the out-patient department. Among them, around 79 percent were intravenous users, he informed.
“From March 2021 to March 2022, a total of 2,123 new patients visited the facility while 21,280 patients who were on follow up visited the facility during the same time. Last year, the number of heroin users was around 75 percent while this year, the number has swelled up to 79 percent,” he said.
During the workshop, Dr Rather spoke on the sensitisation of drug abuse and highlighted the role of Imams (religious scholars) and Khateebs (preachers) to get rid of drug addiction. He termed them as important stakeholders in society to prevent this menace from further spreading.
“Religious scholars have an important role in the eradication of any social evil,” he said. “Thousands of people listen to them and if they will deliver Friday sermons on the ill effects of drug abuse, they can raise awareness and make parents understand how to behave with their children.”
“The Imams and Khateebs can also counsell drug addicts as their counselling remains effective and can develop a ‘forget and accept approach’ so that those involved in this menace may come for treatment instead of getting stigmatized,” Dr Yasir added—(KNO)