Don't Punish Drug Users - Help Them

A major problem that is encountered while interviewing children undergoing de-addiction treatment is their general tendency to clam up, fumble with words or lie about their experiences, fearing to be punished or shamed.

Dependence on drugs can substantially interfere with a person’s cognitive and other brain-related functions, besides leading to sometimes extensive organ damage. As a public health problem, we need to examine the subject more broadly if we are to provide an appropriate response.

All drug users have their own peculiar stories to tell, and it is only by listening to them closely and empathising with their personal journeys that a real beginning can be made.

Most children at this centre previously used or became dependent on inhalants, ganja or smack (an impure form of heroin also called brown sugar), while some used all three. All of them come from impoverished families and are hooked on cheap, mostly adulterated, drugs that are both easily accessible and affordable.

The majority of children like them are brought to SPYM’s detox centres by their parents, NGOs engaged in addressing the needs of vulnerable children or by the police. Before being admitted to the centre all children are produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), a government agency that focuses its attention to marginalised and vulnerable children. Various NGOs monitor and observe the activities on pavements and in slum clusters where nearly 80 per cent children of this underclass live and are often hooked on drugs. The NGOs also focus on runaways and trafficked children on railway stations, which often is their first stop after their grueling journeys. SPYM admits them for treatment and care after they are registered at the CWC court in Lajpat Nagar, whose permission must also be obtained before their release post treatment.

Detoxification usually takes 7-14 days, depending on the type of drug used, but rehabilitation is a longer process starting with a minimum period of three months which is extended in the more serious cases. These children report multiple medical problems and many require additional care for full recovery.

SPYM tries to monitor the children who have been released so as to boost aftercare support and prevent “relapse” – that is, returning to drug abuse. The NGO also tries to raise money to fund vocational and skills-oriented programmes to bring them into the mainstream and achieve social and family reintegration. This involves participation of government as well as private donors. 

This endeavour is important because the children’s parents are quite unable to provide the care and support that are required post-detoxification. In brute summary:

1)      Many of these children come from broken or unstable households

2)      As these are highly impoverished families all members, both young and adult, need to pool in whatever little they make from doing odd jobs on the streets. What must also be factored in is that these are mostly large families. Extreme want leads to undermining of the family structure, with the parents constantly struggling and mostly failing to provide for the safety of their children and preventing them from falling into the drug trap. What is worse is that quite frequently one or both parents themselves are slaves to the habit.