Seven drug addicts come forward for treatment

Tribune News Service

Barnala, July 9

The Drug Abuse and Prevention Officer (DAPO) programme on Monday got a major boost from Pakho Kalan village panchayat as seven drug addicts from the village got themselves registered for their treatment after motivation by area residents. All seven addicts met officials during a special camp against drugs and expressed willingness to shun drugs.

The district administration on Monday organised a function at Pakhon Kalan, 25 km from here, under DAPO and motivated people to shun drugs from their village and assured that all treatment was being offered free of cost by the Punjab Government. During the awareness function, the village panchayat and other prominent personalities assured that they would cooperate with the administration and police officials to tackle with the drug menace.

“With the motivation of the village panchayat and our officials, seven drug addicts got themselves registered to start their de-addiction course. All the seven addicts were using habit forming tablets,” said Barnala Deputy Commissioner Dharam Pal Gupta.

The DC informed that the drug addicts would be assisted at every step of de-addiction as addicts needed more social support than medicine. He said he, along with his officials, had been urging panchayats to help the administration by convincing their addicts to start their treatment.

“The Punjab Government has been offering full support for the treatment of all addicts and we are trying our level best to convince the residents of our district to help addicts get treatment,” said the DC.

Additional DC Sandeep Kumar said the administration would soon install suggestions and complaint boxes at the village level to encourage the residents to come up with information about drugs without revealing their identity.