Imphal: Manipur Social Welfare Minister Heikham Dingo Singh on Saturday appealed to work for the complete eradication of all evil substances.
Addressing a workshop organised by the Editors’ Guild of Manipur and the Department of Social Welfare on “Media Focus on Demand Reduction of Drugs as Part of the War on Drugs,” Dingo said the state has been facing drug-related issues for a long time.
The problem that people faced in the 1980s was rich people consuming drugs, but now the situation has changed, he added. The Director of Social Welfare, Ng Uttam, said the drug issue is linked with various matters that need a concerted struggle to be fought. About 90 centres are working to help the victims in the state, and a new centre will be opened to deal exclusively with transgender people.
The Manipur government deals with the drug issue from three perspectives: cutting the supply chain, reducing demand, and dealing with the harmful effects. As Manipur is close to the Golden Triangle or Death Triangle, and its 400-km-long international border is porous, the impact of drugs is rampant, he said.
Dr. RK Lenin said the ideal solution is complete abstinence from all harmful drugs, but it is not possible, so efforts should be made at the community level to reduce the impact on health, society, and the economy. Family and community should play an active role in fighting the menace, he added.
Those affected should be criminalised, and society should deal with the victims humanely; a scientific approach should be adopted, he said.
RK Jiten of SASO, a community-based centre, said the community and the NGOs are active in Manipur, and taking cues from US medical experts, the Manipur bodies treated the victims. Whether it is about the hepatitis C issue, emergency cases, or ART medicines, the community effectively helps the victims in Manipur, he said.
The involvement of the community and NGOs makes the medicines, and treatment easily accessible, he added.
