In the recent years, the drug consumption in the city has been on the increasing trend. The increasing number of drug consumers is generally ob served to be in the age group of 18-25 years. The most common drugs consumed by the ad- dicts are opioids which include heroin, fentanyl and injectable drugs such as buprenorphine and pentazocine. Despite the government and private drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres prevalent in different parts of the city, the usage of these drugs has alarmingly been on a rise in the last few years. Situations such as unemployment, ex- cess wealth, excessive stress level etc. are the mainstream reasons for intake of drugs by DR RAJINDER SINGH the consumers. Also, while treatments of drug addicts, the major concerns are the denial to addiction by the patients, non-regularity in follow-up sessions during the complete treatment procedure and the resistance by the serious ad dicted to be treated upon. Talking to Daily Post, Dr (Col) Rajinder Singh, who has also served as a psychiatric consul-tant in the Indian Army, said that the basic step to plummet the plight of drug addiction was to conduct awareness and education programmes in schools and colleges, and disseminate the malignity of drug consumption to the young citizens.
World Drug Abuse Day, which is celebrated every June 26, was observed in different locations in the city. A drug de-addiction treatment and awareness camp was organised by the Drug De-Addiction and Treatment Centre, Department Of Psychiatry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Educa- tion and Research (PGIMER) in Sector 52, Chandigarh. This camp was organised with a theme which emphasised on the development of lives, com- munities and identities without the use of drugs.