Treat addicts like patients not criminals, urges doc

India stands at a critical moral and social crossroad, warns Dr Kalyan Singh, MD (medicine), DFID, who has issued an urgent call for national awakening against the escalating drug menace. Behind the nation’s glittering progress lurks a corrosive danger, silently spreading across cities and villages: substance addiction. According to him, it is the responsibility of every parent, teacher, citizen and policymaker to act against the menace collectively.

Dr Singh described addiction as more than physiological dependence. It is, he said, a collapse of human vulnerability, a dark path that destroys not only the youth but leaves old parents abandoned in fear and despair. Too often, society turns its face away because silence appears more convenient than courageous action.

Presenting data from Kullu, a district with a population of 4.5 lakh, he revealed that between January and October 2025, 9,359 individuals sought help from government de-addiction and rehabilitation centres. Of these, 7,917 were battling dependence on opiates, particularly chitta, signalling what he termed “an expanding opioid storm.” Additionally, 1,020 people sought treatment for alcohol, 307 for cannabis, and 115 for tobacco use. If such alarming numbers emerge from one district, the crisis must be recognised as a national emergency, he said.

Dr Singh emphasised that drug addicts should not be treated as criminals but as patients suffering from a serious illness. Criminalising them only deepens stigma and drives them further into isolation, whereas offering treatment and dignity can restore hope.

He urged NGOs across the country to unite against what he called “the real ghost” haunting India’s future.