PRESS RELEASE

International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is being celebrated in Central Jail No. 1 on 26.06.2008 in partnership with UNODC Regional Office for South Asia.

The Drug de-addiction and rehabilitation programmes are being carried out in a big way in Delhi Jails since approximately 8% of the Prison population comprises of drug users.  NGOs are engaged in the counseling and rehabilitation of drug users.  A drug user is identified on the very first day of his/her admission and sent to Drug Detoxification Centre under the supervision of trained medical staff for detoxification and follow-up treatment. This is essential as the withdrawal symptoms of certain drugs are very strong and may even endanger the life of a person.

Thereafter the recovering user is shifted to the drug rehabilitation centres run in different jails in association with NGOs like AAG (AIDS Awareness Group), AASRA (An Association for the Scientific Research on the Addictions) and IVF (India Vision Foundation) etc. The rehabilitation process includes counseling, meditation, life skills education and other therapeutic methods. Through various programmes UNODC has provided support for training and capacity building of prison staff, NGOs and inmates for effectively rolling out interventions (using peer led approaches) to address drug abuse and HIV prevention.

A new 120 bedded drug de-addiction centre was inaugurated by the Hon'ble C.M. Delhi in the Jail hospital complex. Currently, additional staff like Medical Officers, Psychologists, Social Workers, Counselors etc, are being hired to optimize provision of services. The prison administration also plans to shift all the drug users from various prisons to this centre.

In collaboration with UNODC Regional Office for South Asia, the Tihar prison administration is initiating roll out of Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) for drug dependents with a history of injecting drug use. The National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences will be providing the technical support for the same.

In the year 2007, 6800 prisoners took drug de-addiction treatment in the jails. A study among them reveals the following statistics:-

•    61.41% of users took to addiction due to peer pressure, 9.37% due to family problems, 8.22% due to depression, 5.57% out of curiosity and rest due to other reasons.  
•    57.76% of drug users have used drugs for more than 5 years. Out of them, 85% of the users have been using drugs for more than two years.
•    From the drug users population, 22.59% were from the age group of 18-23 years; 39.55% in the age group of 24-30 years, 27.59% between 31-40 years and 10.57% above 40 years.
•    50.12% of drug users were single, 42.24% were married, 5.28% were divorced /separated and 2.35% widowers.
•    52.86% of the drug users were illiterate and 47.14% have studied beyond primary school.  
•    About one-third of the drug users were unemployed.
•    About three-fourth of the drug users earned less than Rs.5000/- per month.