Shillong, April 10: Meghalaya government has decided to set up an Addict Treatment Facility (ATF) at Umsawli under the New Shillong Township, for the purpose of rehabilitating drug users “free of cost”.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Drug Reduction Elimination & Action Mission (DREAM) chaired by the social welfare minister Paul Lyngdoh here on Thursday.

It was attended by the DGP Idashisha Nongrang, DREAM mission director Francis G Kharshiing, SP of Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF), DHS, Medical Superintendent of Shillong civil hospital and others.

Addressing media persons, Lyngdoh said the number of drug addicts picked up from the streets and various parts of the city do not have any facility for immediate treatment, detoxification and counselling.

“In order to facilitate those facilities to these addicts, today’s meeting resolved that we pushed forward as was discussed in the last meeting of the DREAM project for the creation of what is called the Addict Treatment Facility (ATF),” he said adding “In this ATF, we will have trained psychiatrists, beds and accommodation facility and also, we will have counselling for the addicts. The idea being that once we complete the treatment of detoxification and counselling, they should be fit to join mainstream society.”

He said the ATF facility will be created at Umsawli, where there is already a Covid centre which has all the wherewithal and we just need to supplement whatever is lacking in that centre adding the department will be providing the necessary manpower.

Lyngdoh informed that within the next two days, a team to be led by the DREAM mission director will visit this facility in Umsawli in order to study the preparedness at the ground level and said, “They (team) will report back to me once that is completed but the decision that was taken in principle is to go forward for the setting up of this ATF.”

Asked, the minister informed that funds are already available with the DREAM Mission for the purpose of setting up the facility.

“We will go in a phase manner but in the first phase it should be somewhere between Rs 50-70 lakh.”

According to him, funds have also been available to the department through the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and there are also components from the health department to supplement this effort to provide treatment to drug addicts free of cost.

The minister also informed that though the number of drug addicts have come down but it is still a major challenge as the state has all “age groups and specially pre-teen, teenagers and even adults who are regularly engaging in either taking drugs or involved in sale of narcotics”.

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