Ignore the stigma: Take action!

Drug peddling and abuse is in the news and everyone is trying to jump the bandwagon to do their bit in sensitising and helping people.

Particularly students who are indulging in this dreadful habit – it may be noted that we have this uncanny way talking about an issue for a while and then slowly losing momentum.What we must remember is that there is no quick fix.

If a child or a youngster is addicted then the issue is serious and deep rooted.It requires multi-dimensional interventions as most of these youngsters have other underlying issues like depression, anxiety, socio behavioural issues etc.

All this is intertwined and needs to be tackled by family and society at large. Presently, we do not have de-addiction centres in the public health space to deal with drugs and this is a requirement as victims from middle-class background will find it expensive to deal with private centres.

There is also a need to train clinicians to help identify manifestation of the problem. Families need to treat this as serious issue and not get bogged down by stigma and societal pressure of being exposed.

By: Mujtaba Hasan Askari
The writer is Managing Trustee & President of Helping Hand Foundation