In The Rehabilitation Of Drug Addicts Lies The Transformation Of Punjab

The border area of the Majha region in Punjab has had a huge issue in dealing with drugs but today things are looking a little positive because a lot of work has happened on the ground. Whether it's the crackdown on the drug peddlers or even the drug users themselves are trying to make a change and improve themselves through various initiatives like the OOAT (Out-patient Opioid Assisted Treatment) centres and de-addiction centres.

It is Jagdeep Singh's fourth stint at a de-addiction centre. The reason he has run away from different centres three times as completing his treatment was a big challenge. A state-level kabaddi played for 8 years, turned towards drugs but this time around he is sure to win over drugs. Jagdeep Singh, recovering addict shared with us,

I started with bhukki in 2014 and switched to chitta soon after and at this point, I was injecting myself 3-4 times a day with heroin. I ran away from the de-addiction centre thrice and I went to jail also twice. I had lost control over everything but this time I am determined to overcome it and admit that it is not true that one can't live without drugs instead one can't live with drugs.

Deaddiction faces an acute phase of withdrawal symptoms which is managed with medication. Once the patient is stable, he moves onto a rehabilitation centre. In Punjab, the Government is running 35 de-addiction centres and 20 rehabilitation centres. The state also has 149 private deaddiction and rehabilitation centres. Over 5 lakh persons have been treated in these centres in Punjab. “When we do deaddiction, we give medicine to help the patient deal with withdrawal symptoms because if we send them back to the society they usually start drugs again”, said, Dr Satpal Singh Gojra, the Deputy Medical Commissioner of the Punjab Health System Corporation, Civil Hospital Hoshiarpur.

The Hoshiarpur district rehab centre has treated 792 patients till February 2020. Dr. Gojta added,

Rehabilitation is defined as a return to a previous form, so the services are an attempt to change the attitudes and behaviours of patients, concentrating on the prevention of the patients' future relapse. In rehabilitation, we have to rehab the patient so that we can delink them from society. The counsellor works on the history of the addict to see why they started drugs and here in the centre, we give them a drug-free environment so that they compare their life with and without drugs and change their thinking.

It is at rehabilitation centres that the foundation is laid for the future of a recovering addict, where trained counsellors help create coping mechanisms that don't rely on substance use. And in the rehabilitation of these addicts lies the eventual rehabilitation of Punjab; a perfect example is in the Taran Taran belt

Dr Jaspreet Singh, Medical Officer at the OOAT and Rehabilitation Centre in Bhagupur, Tarn Taran told us,

That this area is near the border, is backward, there are fewer job opportunities, education is less and also affected by terrorism hence, addiction is a little more than other places in Punjab. Though work is in progress, the situation has improved tremendously.

Being close to the border area, tarn taran has been highly susceptible to the problem of drugs but the number of addicts has come down to half from what it was three years ago. Dr. Jaspreet added,

The law and order situation is much better, petty crimes like chain snatching have also declined as many times addicts did all this for money to get their drugs.