UNDCP To Fund Fight Against Drug Ab

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Subject: UNDCP To Fund Fight Against Drug Abuse in India


UNDCP to fund fight against drug abuse in India 

The Times of India, New Delhi
Jun. 4, 1999
By The Times of India News Service

               NEW DELHI: The United Nations Drug Control Programme
               (UNDCP) will provide India $5.5 million (Rs 22 crore) over a
               four- year period to comprehensively address the problem of
               drug abuse through community-based rehabilitation programmes
               all over the country. Two project agreements were signed last
               month with the Vienna-based UNDCP by the Union ministry of
               social justice and empowerment, ministry sources said here on
               Thursday. 

               The projects will include a rehabilitation package specifically
               designed for the north-eastern states and establishment of a
               National Centre for Drug Abuse Prevention in New Delhi.
               According to sources, these agreements are a landmark in
               India-UNDCP collaboration for drug demand reduction in
               accordance with the Declaration and Guiding Principles on Drug
               demand Reduction adopted during the special session of the UN
               General Assembly in June, 1998.

               The number of drug addicts is sharply rising in the country.
India
               is no more just a transit country for trafficking in drugs
from the
               ``golden triangle'' (Myanmar, Laos and Thailand) and ``golden
               crescent'' (Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran).

               It has been estimated that among the addicts in India, alcohol
               users constitute 41.28 per cent, opium users 8.02 per cent,
               brown sugar/smack users 7.62 per cent, ganja/marijuana users
               7.29 per cent and heroin 3.58 per cent.

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