J&K State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) today observed International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking with the theme of ‘Better Knowledge for Better Care’.The day was commemorated by organizing an online awareness programme in association with Jammu & Kashmir Judicial Academy on the topic “Expanding boundaries of Legal Services Beyond Just Say No to Drugs; Prevention, Awareness and Rehabilitation”.The Progamme was conducted under the guidance of Chief Justice of J&K High Court, Justice Gita Mittal, who is also Patron-in-Chief of J&K SLSA and under the supervision of Justice Rajesh Bindal, who is Executive Chairman of the authority.The webinar was organized as a measure to generate awareness on the problem of drug abuse and invited participation of Legal Services Authorities at District level, Judicial Officers, Retainer Lawyers and Para Legal Volunteers. Arul Verma, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Central Delhi and Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Executive Director, SPYM were the resource persons in the Webinar who dealt with various aspects of the problem of drug abuse prevalent in the society.The proceedings of the programme were coordinated by MK Sharma, Member Secretary, J&K SLSA and Rajeev Gupta, Director, J&K Judicial Academy.
Arul Verma deliberated upon the various facets of the drug abuse problem amongst children, adolescents, youth and adults while emphasizing the need to improve our understanding of the issue for countering its impact on the overall physical and mental wellbeing of humans.He also stressed upon the importance of understanding and identifying the signs and symptoms amongst users at an early stage and for further encouraging awareness on the dangers of addiction, adopting preventive techniques and for enhancing the role of Legal Services institutions and Para Legal Volunteers as support systems for fruitful recoveries.Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Founder and Executive Director of SPYM (Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses) underlined the pervasive effect of Drug Abuse on the entire community and the imminent necessity for streamlined and systematic treatment and recovery and formulating a robust rehabilitation policy and process.It was also stressed that for neutralizing the systemic challenges sustaining the drug issue, it is necessary to snap the demand and supply chain and for establishing more specialized drug treatment centre, preferably in all districts and separately for women and persons below the age of 18 years for appropriate treatment of victims of drug abuse.