With substance abuse on the rise among the young, a new money-making opportunity has presented itself to unscrupulous businessmen as private de-addiction and rehabilitation centres mushroom in and around Mumbai.
These so-called de-addiction centres mostly operate without qualified and licensed staff, messing up the lives of the drug abuse victims further. But neither those running the centres nor the Government seems to care.
Many ‘rehabilitation centres’ around Mumbai operate without basic medical facilities, trained counsellors and qualified psychiatrists to treat mental disorders linked with drug abuse.
The Mental Health Care Act, 2017, includes substance addiction in the list of mental illnesses and regulates treatment of substance-abuse disorders at de-addiction and rehabilitation centres.
A study in 2020 on the magnitude of substance abuse, commissioned by the Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, reported the number of addicts in India to be 75 million and growing.
“The Government is turning a blind eye to the epidemic of drug abuse and addiction,” fumed Amol Madame, secretary of the Nashabandi Mandal Maharashtra Rajya, established in 1958 to promote Prohibition and de-addiction awareness.
“We have been demanding monitoring of de-addiction and rehab centres, but the state has failed to formulate district health committees as mandated by law.”
The committees are supposed to be set up by the Social Justice Ministry, but state Social Justice Secretary Sumanth Bhange declined to comment on the trend of private deaddiction centres flouting norms. “I’m busy with more important work and have no time for drug addicts,” Mr Bhange snapped.
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