Minister for Health Medical Education, ARI and Trainings, Choudhary Lal Singh on Tuesday said strict measures are being taken to curb the drug menace across Jammu and Kashmir.Speaking on a resolution on drug menace moved by legislator, Javaid Hassan Beigh in the House today, Mr Singh said unemployment was no cause for the drug menace. He said the magnitude of the problem was so grave that there was dire need to find out the sources of the menace.“There is a lot of work to be done as far as this menace is concerned. You can’t blame a poor drug addict for the problem. The problem lies somewhere else,” Mr Singh said.“Some organizations are not doing their work professionally. There is lot of nexus going on between the drug peddlers and the government organizations,” Mr Singh said.
Several legislators participated in the discussion on the resolution and urged the government to take strict action against the persons responsible for spreading the drug menace in the society.“I assure the honorable members that Health Department is serious in setting up drug rehabilitation centers in all the districts across the state,” he informed. The minister said that his department has full support from chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed on the issue of curbing drug menace.I assure the CM that our department is on the track and have started various initiatives with curbing drug menace as an important issue,” he said. Mr Singh urged police to work towards identifying the source of the menace.
“Responsibility of identifying the main source of the drug menace lies with the government and police should show their worth in identifying it,” he said. He impressed upon the members of the house to cooperate in the matter and help government to address the issue in a holistic manner. “All the drugs have main entry i.e Lakhanpur in Jammu and we should be able to plug the problem there,” he said.The minister said that there was need for the government run-departments to work in close tandem. “Growing drug de-addiction needs cooperation from all the stakeholders,” he said.Earlier, MLA Rafiabad, Yawar Dilwar Mir, while discussing the issue, appealed government and especially health department to start awareness campaign across all the districts.“We don’t have to shun the drug addicts, albeit we have to embrace them and make them feel connected to the society,” Mir said.MLA Kokernag, Abdul Rahim Rather also spoke on the resolution.