Centre ready with a concerted action plan to fight the menace of substance abuse

The Centre is set to roll out a “concerted action plan” to combat the menace of drugs and psychotropic substance abuse in the country next month, bringing together the narcotics control bureau, health institutions, higher education institutions, non-government organisations and other stakeholders on a common platform.

“The ministry of social justice and empowerment has formulated a national programme for drug demand reduction,” a university grants commission (UGC) secretary Rajnish Jain said.

The ministry has decided to implement the programme from April 1.

Ahead of the roll-out of the programme, the UGC has asked all higher education institutions to prepare an action plan for their implementation “in a time-bound manner”, noting that drug addiction is “a major challenge” in many of the higher education institutions with “numerous cases” of youngsters getting addicted to substance abuse.

“There is an urgent need to confront the problem head-on,” UGC secretary said in a letter to the heads of higher education institutions.

Underlining that the universities and colleges can take “a leadership role” in dealing with the substance abuse menace, the higher education regulator asked the higher education institutions to constitute “Say No to Drugs” student bodies under the mentorship of a faculty member.

“Such student bodies should be constituted in institutions to support the rehabilitation of their fellow students who are addicted to drugs, through constant communication, counselling and continued support to instil self-confidence and self-belief in such students,” the regulator said.

These students body should also act as “an early warning system” in case of any misuse or abuse of drugs is detected, by informing the regulatory agencies for cutting down the supplies, it added.

The ministry of social justice and empowerment will provide financial assistance to such student bodies and also provide support for their capacity building “so that they play a decisive role in the war against drugs”, the UGC informed the higher education institutions.

As part of their functioning, the students bodies will organise awareness programmes through various activities including talks by health experts on ill effects of the drug usage, nukkad nataks, poster making, the UGC added.