Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse for Social Defence Services

Alcohol and drug abuse has emerged as a serious concern in India. Article 47 of the Constitution provides that “The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavor to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.” India is a signatory to three United Nations Conventions, namely:

• Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961;
• Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971; and
• Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988.

Thus, India also has an international obligation to, inter alia, curb drug abuse. The United Nations General Assembly, in its 20th Special Session in 1998, has accepted demand reduction as an indispensable pillar of drug control strategies. The demand reduction strategy consists of education, treatment, rehabilitation and social integration of drug dependent persons for prevention of drug abuse.

For the purpose of drug demand reduction, the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has been implementing the Scheme of Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse since 1985- 86. The Scheme was revised thrice earlier (1994, 1999 and 2008) prior to the recent revision which came into force from January 1, 2015.

Objectives

The objectives of the Scheme for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse are:

• To create awareness and educate people about the ill-effects of alcoholism and substance abuse on the individual, the family, the workplace and society at large.
• To provide for the whole range of community based services for the identification, motivation, counselling, de-addiction, after care and rehabilitation for Whole Person Recovery (WPR) of addicts to make a person drug free, crime free and gainfully employed.
• To alleviate the consequences of drug and alcohol dependence amongst the individual, the family and society at large.
• To facilitate research, training, documentation and collection of relevant information to strengthen the above mentioned objectives.
• To support other activities which are in consonance with the mandate of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment in this field.

Approach and strategy

The approach of this Scheme is to provide the whole range of services including awareness generation, identification, counselling, treatment and rehabilitation of addicts through voluntary and other organizations. With a view to reducing the demand for and consumption of alcohol and dependence producing substances, the thrust would be on preventive education programmes and Whole Person Recovery of the drug dependent persons. In order to achieve the objectives of the scheme the key strategies will be as follows :

• To evolve culture-specific models for the prevention of alcoholism and substance abuse and for rehabilitation of drug dependent persons.
• To promote collective initiatives and self-help endeavour among individuals and groups vulnerable to addiction or found at risk.
• To increase community participation and public cooperation in the reduction of demand for dependence-producing substances.
• To create and sustain an infrastructure of trained human resource personnel and service providers to strengthen the service delivery mechanisms.
• To establish and foster appropriate synergy between State interventions, corporate initiatives, the voluntary sector and other stakeholders in the field of substance abuse prevention.
• To facilitate networking among policy planners, service providers and other stakeholders, with an aim to encourage appropriate advocacy.
• To promote and sustain a system of continuous monitoring and evaluation including self-correctional mechanism.

Target groups

All victims of alcohol and substance (drugs) abuse with a special focus on:-

Substances, abuse of which is covered under the Scheme

• Alcohol
• All Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic substances covered under the NDPS, Act, 1985.
• Any other addictive substance, other than tobacco.

Eligible organisations / institutions for financial support

The following organizations/institutions shall be eligible for assistance under this scheme:

• A Society registered under the Societies’ Registration Act, 1860 (XXI of 1860) or any relevant Act of the State Governments / Union Territory Administrations or under any State law relating to the registration of Literary, Scientific and Charitable societies, or
• A Public Trust registered under any law for the time being in force, or
• A Company established under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956; or
• Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), organizations/institutions fully funded or managed by State/ Central Government or a local body; or
• Universities, Schools of Social Work, other reputed educational institutions, NYKs, and such other well established organizations/ institutions which may be approved by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

Components admissible for assistance under the scheme

The following components are admissible for assistance under the Scheme:

• Integrated Rehabilitation Centre for Addicts (IRCA)
• Programme for Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse at Workplace (WPP)
• Regional Resource and Training Centres (RRTC)
• Awareness-cum-De-addiction Camps (ACDC)
• Technical Exchange and Personal Development Programme
• Preventive Education and Awareness Generation through Media Publicity
• NGO Forum for Drug Abuse Prevention
• Innovative Intervention to Strengthen Community Based Rehabilitation
• Survey, Studies, Evaluation and Research on the subjects covered under the Scheme.
• Vigilance-cum- Monitoring Committee/Cell/Agency to ensure quality of expenditure and also for monitoring the implementation of the Scheme.

Extent of financial assistance

For the complete guidelines, click here.

Source : Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India