AS THE big doors of gate no 1 of Tihar prison, in New Delhi, opened my spirits sank. I was living my worst fear — a visit to the prison. But, as I walked in clear open sky, lush green landscape, a volleyball court and a drug rehabilitation centre welcomed me. This was my first ever visit to a prison, and thankfully, not as a convict. I was invited to be a part of a unique celebration — a celebration against drug abuse. World over, June 26, is observed as the International Day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking. My voice melted in unison along with the 3,000 voices of prison inmate — brought together from the nine prisons of Delhi — as we vowed to stay away from drugs and make the community drug free.

Out of the 13,000 inmates in Tihar, approximately eight per cent of them are drug users. Rajesh, a recovered drug user and an ex-convict, shared his experience, “I got addicted to heroin and took to crimes. Soon small petty crimes led to bigger ones. I wanted to stop, but couldn’t. But today, I am clean and for two and a half years haven’t touched any drugs- not even alcohol. The drug rehabilitation programme worked for me. I want others to learn from my drug abuse experience.” Rajesh, a father of two children, is now associated with an NGO engaged in the counseling and rehabilitation of drug users. According to prison inmate Mahdev, who is still trying to recover, “It’s a huge bottomless pit. Once you get sucked in, it is very difficult to come out of it. I want to leave it for my daughter.”

Sunil Gupta, the prison’s law officer, informed us that a drug user is identified on the very first day of his/her admission and sent to Drug Detoxification Centre (DDC) under the supervision of trained medical staff for detoxification and follow-up treatment. Thereafter, the recovering user is shifted to the drug rehabilitation centers run in different jails. The rehabilitation process includes counseling, meditation, life skills education and other therapeutic methods. He further shared that the drug users, under the supervision of doctors, will get ‘kick-inducing’ pharmaceutical tablets to overcome their drug dependence, as part of a reformation programme being initiated by a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). “Under this programme, the drug addicts will be given buprenorphine and methadone. Though both these drugs will give them a kick, they will help reduce drug dependence,” added Dr Jayadev Sarangi, prison expert with UNODC.

My rendezvous with the prison ended with an affirmative note and a strident message to the society — “say no to drugs”