Accepting the arbitrary action of forcefully picking up two people on charges of using drugs to keep them in their de-addiction centre, the Living Clean located at Ghari Maning Leikai has assured not to conduct the illegal action in future.
The clarification was made during a joint inspection at the de-addiction centre by Kangkleipak Drug Awareness and Prevention (KADAP), USER Manipur and Community Network for Empowerment (CoNE) on Wednesday.
The team had visited the centre as per complaint lodged by two family members where their children were forcibly picked by some people at Sora Karanchi Loubuk and later admitted at the said centre without the consent of families.
During the visit, one of the victims narrated to the media that the incident of forceful picking up by the group of people occurred on February 27 at around 11 am. While they were coming to Sora, the group had asked to stop their vehicle. They negotiated them for a while as they did not possess any psychoactive substance nor consume anything. He further said that the group had caught them by pretending as a police. But after staying in the centre for a few days, they came to know that most of the members in the team are the staff of the centre, he alleged.
“Being a drug user, I had stayed in de-addiction centres many times. But the kind of service and system practising in the centre is pathetic. During my stay in the centre, I came to know that most of their clients are forcefully picked up from many places of the state,” he stated.
While accepting the allegation made by the family members of the victims, one of the in-charge of Living Clean, Wahengbam Robindro said that the centre will not conduct such activities in the future. He assured to continue his service to treat drug users with sincerity and honesty.
Addressing the media at the sidelines of the drive, president of CoNE Manipur, RK Nalinikanta said that with the ever increasing number of private de-addiction centres in Manipur, many unwanted incidents are continuously happening in the centres from last four to five years. To prevent them from such instances like forceful pick-up of drug users by centre in nexus with police or local clubs that includes physical harassment, various approaches to the legal and concerned department was made by drug users’ community
As an outcome of it, the Department of Social Welfare issued a notification to regulate all private de-addiction centres under the guidelines of the Ministry of Social justice and Empowerment. Apart from this, it is even mentioned in the Manipur Drug Policy which was released recently. But a recent incident at Sora proves that the department is still yet to implement the regulation effectively, he added.
Stating the significance of having private de-addiction centres, he said that “in a state like Manipur where drug menace is increasing consistently, private rehab centres are highly needed. We strongly support the opening of rehabilitation centres with good intention of shaping the future generation.”
As the state government has not taken up any steps to control the unwanted incidents happening in the de-addiction centres, similar drives will continue if any complaint is made by the people, he added.
