386 addicts admitted to Kapurthala rehab centres in 5 months

The Kapurthala police have admitted 386 drug addicts to de-addiction centres in the past five months, with the maximum 72 belonging to the Subhanpur area.

This came to light when a video clip of a drug addict from Hamira village of the Subhanpur area surfaced online. He was unable to walk under the influence of drugs.

Soon after the incident appeared online, the police traced him and admitted him to a de-addiction centre. According to police sources, of the 72 addicts from Subhanpur, 22 were heavily intoxicated.

The Hamira village resident, identified as Manjit Singh, has been booked by the police under Sections 27, 61 and 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act for consuming drugs.

He was admitted to the de-addiction centre, as per proceedings under Section 64-A of the NDPS Act, the police said.

Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gaurva Toora said, “Drug overdose cases are a societal problem. We are working primarily on the supply side and have been able to reduce it substantially.”

“On the demand side, we are working for de-addiction. We are offering non-prosecution of people opting for undergoing de-addiction. As many as 386 persons were admitted to de-addiction clinics and 801 to OOAT centres by the Kapurthala police,” he added.

Subhanpur SHO Aman Nahar said their approach is to act on the sellers and rehabilitate drug users.

The police officer said 22 people were found heavily intoxicated and a total 72 were admitted to de-addiction centres. “The man found at Hamira village was a drug user,” he said.