BHUBANESWAR: Odisha is witnessing a troubling surge in substance abuse among youths with the number of admissions to drug de-addiction centres doubling in the last five years.
According to the reports from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, a staggering 48,306 youths were admitted to drug de-addiction centres in the last year alone. This marks a significant rise from 24,497 admissions in 2020. A majority of this population is in the 18 to 30 years age group. The addictions are primarily related to use of brown sugar, ganja, alcohol and sedatives.
This sharp rise has placed Odisha at the fourth spot nationally for the highest number of admissions to drug de-addiction centres in the last financial year, following Madhya Pradesh (one lakh), Uttar Pradesh (96,749), and Rajasthan (71,355).
The state currently has 51 de-addiction centres operating under the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) scheme, with the highest concentration, five centres each, in Khurda, Cuttack, and Puri districts. In addition, nearly 30 de-addiction centres are run by NGOs with government support, and several more operate privately.
Anti-drug activist Md Imram Ali said while smoking ganja has been a perennial problem among youths, use of brown sugar, locally referred to as ‘powder’, has now spread from urban areas to villages, where its use is increasingly seen as normalised. “This apart, perhaps for the first time, LSD was seized in the state recently from Bhubaneswar. Six blots of LSD were seized from a 23-year-old engineering graduate. Few days back, cocaine was seized from a youth in front of Utkal University,” he said.
City-based clinical psychologist Siddharth Mishra said there are many factors contributing to the alarming trend, the most important of them being youths’ inability to deal with distress situations, peer pressure and easy access to drugs. “Substance abuse is not just limited to men, but has also taken women under its grip,” he said. Bhubaneswar, currently, has two de-addiction centres that cater exclusively to women addicts.
Officials of the SSEPD department said several drug de-addiction drives are being carried out in the state and a Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan committee has been formed for the same. The Higher Education department on Wednesday asked principals of all colleges to publicise use of MANAS portal in their institutions through which students can directly lodge complaints regarding use of drugs on campuses. Students can also lodge such complaints through helpline 1933 and mobile app ‘Umang’.