Rehab centres of Mangaluru fight a protracted battle against the menace of drugs Premium

It took nearly two months for Mangaluru resident 27-year-old Manoj (name changed) to even realise that he was hitting his mother badly under the influence of narcotic drugs. Following several days of medication and sessions with therapists in which the mother also participated and told Manoj about the way he behaved, Manoj stopped consuming drugs. He is now working in a firm in Dubai.

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It took nearly two months for Mangaluru resident 27-year-old Manoj (name changed) to even realise that he was hitting his mother badly under the influence of narcotic drugs. Following several days of medication and sessions with therapists in which the mother also participated and told Manoj about the way he behaved, Manoj stopped consuming drugs. He is now working in a firm in Dubai.

Guruprasad and his wife Beena Saldanha, who run Born Again Recovery Centre, which is among the 12 private rehabilitation centres working in Dakshina Kannada, take the instance of Manoj to illustrate that each person addicted to drugs takes his or her own time to self realise the harm he/she is inflicting on themselves and to their family members.

“For some, this realisation comes early and they stop taking drugs. With some, there will be relapses. There are also instances where medication has continued for life to keep them away from drugs. We try to build confidence in the addict that he/she can restrain from addiction one day at a time, all through his life,” said Guruprasad. “This is my own experience. It is the admission of taking the wrong path and the resolve to stay away from substance abuse that changed me. I am passing on my experience to rehabilitate other drug addicts,” he adds.

Rehabilitation of those using narcotic drugs and other substances has been going on for several years in Mangaluru. It gained strength and received importance in July 2023, when the district administration, in association with Mangaluru City police and Dakshina Kannada police, started the “Drug-free Dakshina Kannada” campaign. The campaign assumes focus and special significance as students from across the country come to study in pre-university, medicine and other professional courses in the institutions in the district.

In 11 months of 2024, 136 drug peddlers were arrested and 976 drug consumers were booked by the Mangaluru police. A total of 182.718 kg of drugs worth ₹7.25 crore were seized.

While the police are focused on booking cases against narcotic drug consumers and peddlers, the district administration is engaged in strengthening the mental health care set-up to enable early detection of depression, psychosis and other mental illnesses resulting from substance abuse. “Early detection of mental illness and treatment is necessary to nip substance abuse in the bud,” says C.M. Sudarshan, the modal officer of District Mental Health Programme.