With the growing number of youth succumbing to substance abuse and drug dependency the need for government run rehabilitation centres is imperative. In 2023, Meghalaya Chief Minister said there are at least 3 lakh youth that are consuming drugs with about 40,000 of them being drug dependent. The only known drug and alcohol detoxification and rehabilitation centre in Meghalaya is SANKER which also treats patients with mental illness. This single institution while doing a commendable job is inadequate to house so many patients.
Alcoholism and drug addiction are both illnesses and need to be treated as such but with more emphasis on counselling and involving the inmates in productive activities. This involves human resources and medication apart from adequate space for physical activities because that is one way of keeping the inmates both physically and mentally busy to take their minds off the craving and help them get out of substance dependency which often is a long process. While psychiatrists and counselling psychologists say addiction is a treatable disorder, it often takes months and sometimes years for a drug dependent or alcoholic to be rehabilitated and even then they are called recovering addicts with the possibility of slipping back on the slightest pretext. Families are known to fall into bad times to pay for the cost of rehabilitation of their family members. Research shows that when treating addictions to opioids (prescription pain relievers or drugs like heroin or fentanyl), medication should be the first line of treatment, usually combined with some form of behavioural therapy or counselling. Medications are also available to help treat addiction to alcohol and nicotine. Medications are used to help people detoxify from drugs, although detoxification is not the same as treatment and is not sufficient to help a person recover. Detoxification alone without subsequent treatment generally leads to resumption of drug use.
For people with addictions to drugs like stimulants or cannabis, no medications are currently available to assist in treatment, so treatment consists of behavioural therapies. Treatment should be tailored to address each patient’s drug use patterns and drug-related medical, mental, and social problems.To the question – can addiction be cured, doctors say that just as treatment for other chronic diseases such as heart disease or asthma, addiction treatment is not a cure, but a way of managing the condition. Treatment enables people to counteract addiction’s disruptive effects on their brain and behaviour and regain control of their lives. All of this is time consuming and requires that the patient remain an inmate and has to follow the required protocols. This means long term stay in a rehabilitation centre where the cost of stay and medication is involved and which is a burden on the family. At present several families from Meghalaya have had to send their family members out of the state for treatment and rehabilitation which is even more expensive. This makes it incumbent on the State Government to think of one rehabilitation centre in each of the districts where substance abuse is rife. Else the future of Meghalaya remains bleak.
