Editor,
I was shocked to read the news that Arunachal Pradesh has become one of the top four states in India for psychoactive substance abuse. This concerning statistic was revealed by Dr Riken Rina at a recent state-level workshop.
Recent years have seen a disturbing rise in substance abuse in Arunachal, with more and more youths falling into drug addiction, exacerbated by multiple factors such as unemployment, life pressures and easy access to drugs. Intravenous drug use is a predominant mode of drug consumption, which has led to a sharp increase in cases of viral hepatitis and HIV. Shared needles and inadequate access to healthcare facilities are major contributors to the spread of these infections.
This involves the interests of all of us, so I hope that the government will urgently formulate an intervention strategy to strengthen medical infrastructure, address youths’ employment and unemployment, strengthen moral education in schools, and strengthen cooperation among all stakeholders to mitigate the adverse effects of drug abuse on the health of the youths and the wider community, especially to prevent cross-border drug flow and build a more productive and healthier society.
Avyaan Sharma