TEZU, 30 Mar: Lohit Assistant Commissioner Himanshu Nigam has urged the trading community to take part in the administration’s efforts to curb the drug menace in the district.
Addressing an ‘awareness-cum-sensitisation programme’ on ‘Prevention of drug and substance abuse among children and illicit trafficking’ at the zonal hospital here on Thursday, Nigam urged liquor shopkeepers and chemists to install CCTV cameras in their shops, and to never sell tobacco, cigarette, bidi or alcohol to underage children.
TDO Dr Asmi Mega said that “Lohit district being one of the vulnerable districts in the country in terms of substance and alcohol abuse, the district administration has taken up various programmes aimed at eradicating the drugs and substance abuse.”
“Under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, various village-wise awareness campaigns have been conducted by the district administration, in collaboration with the tax, excise & narcotics department, the NCB, and the police.
“Similarly, the COTPA Act has also been implemented in the district,” Mega said.
DSO (IDSP) Dr S Towang spoke on drug abuse and the types of inhalants being abused by habitual drug users.
He said that “instances of road traffic accidents in the district are one of the highest in the state, and these accidents are caused due to the ill-effects of alcohol and substance abuse.”
Dr Towang advised all the chemists not to sell any kind of drug (medicine) or syringe without any prescription from a licensed medical practitioner.
Drug Inspector Taloh Jamoh spoke on “Schedules H, H1, or X drugs,” and said that the district administration is soon going to make it mandatory for all the pharmacies and chemist shops to install CCTV cameras and digitise their registers for selling medicines, “so that a proper record is maintained and abuse of common medicines, if any, can be stopped.”
Tezu WPS OC Bharati Mingki spoke about Sections 77 and 78 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
“Shopkeepers selling intoxicating liquor or narcotic substances to a child can be booked under Section 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015,” she said.
DRCHO Dr Linya Lollen said that incidences of communicable diseases like Hepatitis B and C and HIV among users of intravenous injectable drugs are on the rise. He informed also about the availability of free screening for Hepatitis B and C, under the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme, at the zonal hospital here.
The programme was conducted by the trade & commerce department, in collaboration with the health & family welfare department. (DIPRO)
