Drug rehab only on medical recommendation, commissioner decides

The Bureau of the Commissioner of Rehabilitation has decided that only addicts who are medically certified as drugdependent will hereafter be taken into its centres--including Kandakadu--for treatment after an explosion in numbers during the past few months led to discipline and control issues.

Hundreds of people arrested through the government's "Yukthiya" programme were sent to State-run facilities in recent months, most commonly the Kandakadu rehabilitation centre. But officials said sufficient discretion had not been exercised in how these admissions were made, leading to even "criminals, drug dealers and members of the underworld" being sent in.

This had caused serious disciplinary and control issues and also triggered clashes, making it difficult for the military staff of these centres to maintain control. “Kandakadu became infamous for fights and parents were scared to have their children sent there,” a senior military official said.

Therefore, a decision was made to strictly implement the provisions of the Drug Dependent Persons (Treatment and Rehabilitation) Act which states that when an OIC of a police station receives information that any person is a habitual user of dangerous drugs and has since become a drug dependant person, he must have him or her examined by a government medical officer.

The doctor will submit a report to the police containing his or her observations that such a person is or is not a drug-dependent person and the extent of drug dependency.

It is based on this report that further actions are taken. This step was, however, largely bypassed until now.

Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles has gazetted the “Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre” as the “Navodawa Treatment Centre” whilst also designating the existing “Navodawa Tertiary and Vocational Literacy Centre” in Senapura as a treatment and rehabilitation centre for providing care and rehabilitation to drug-dependant persons. This means there are now additional facilities to accommodate drugdependent persons.

The minister is legally mandated, on the recommendation of the National Dangerous Drug Control Board (NDDCB), to designate any place or building to be a treatment and rehabilitation centre.