Drug Menace Claims New Victims (Is it Udata Punjab or Dubata Punjab ?)

Inside Punjab's first women's rehab clinic: How female addicts are flocking to treatment centres as drug menace claims new victims

• By Manjeet Sehgal, www.dailymail.co.uk
• View Original
• June 9th, 2016

Mona (name changed) thought her boyfriend was cool when he spurred her to try cigarettes and alcohol. 

Soon, the kick wasn’t enough for the 22-year-old budding doctor and she moved on to hard drugs like heroin. 

Months later, her parents realised that their daughter, who was studying in one of Punjab’s top medical colleges, had become a full-blown addict. 

At the Hermitage Rehab Centre, counselling sessions are not just held for the addicts but also their family members, who play a major role in the rehabilitation process

Devastated, they had Mona admitted to a rehabilitation centre in Amritsar city, where she is currently recovering.

Once considered a male-only problem, the epidemic of drug addiction has now gripped Punjab’s women too. 

With cracked lips and shrivelled bodies, they are showing up in droves at the de-addiction centres. 

Those who once fought for the lives of their husbands and brothers are now fighting for themselves. Whether in colleges, universities, or homes - women are using hard drugs openly. 

Punjab’s first de-addiction centre exclusively for women opened this year in Amritsar. The centre is the brainchild of Amritsar-based psychiatrist Dr Jagdeep Pal Bhatia, who has been running a similar facility for men over the past two decades. 

Bhatia says most women who come to the centre are between 18 and 40 years of age. They have often been traumatised by acts of incest, domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse, sex addiction and low self-esteem. 

Treatment 

The psychiatrist said he noticed that many families deserted female addicts and only chose treatment for male relatives. 

Experts say the exact number of female drug addicts in the state is not known, but it runs into the thousands. 

Once considered a male-only problem, the epidemic of drug addiction has now gripped Punjab’s women too

Opened just a month back, the Hermitage Rehab is fighting to change the lives of drug-addicts

The development comes amid a swirling political tussle in the poll-bound state over the film Udta Punjab, based on the state’s drug menace, which has run into trouble with the Censor Board. 

“Two big reasons behind a women's drug addiction in Punjab are low self-esteem and upward mobility. The women and girls want to become fashionable and want to show that they are open. The simplest way to reach out to the rich and influential is to join the parties where hookahs, liquor and drugs are served openly,” Bhatia said. 

“The women start with a cigarette or a small peg of wine or liquor. The habit later transcends and they become drug addicts or hardcore alcoholics.” 

Peddlers 

Drug addiction pushes women into a bottomless abyss as they largely depend on men for the supply. The men could be their friends or the drug peddlers. As a gram of heroin costs nearly Rs 4,000, women who are unemployed or come from low-income families get pulled into a vortex of sexual abuse. 

“They become slaves when they do not have money to buy heroin. They surrender themselves to the ‘friends’ or peddlers who exploit them sexually,” said Jasbir Singh, a former drug addict who is now a family counsellor in Amritsar. 

The 31 drug rehabilitation centres run by the Punjab government are usually avoided by people, especially women, as they are ill-equipped and often lack basic amenities. 

Critics say the administration, which continues to deny the state’s drug epidemic, seems to have turned a blind eye towards the female addicts. 

“This is not true. Our de-addiction centres are open for both men and women. Anybody can come for treatment, which is largely free,” said Punjab health minister Surjit Kumar Jyani. 

“The state government is leaving no stone unturned to eradicate the menace of drugs." 

Namrita Gupta, who has been counselling drug-addicted women in Amritsar, says housewives, students, and working women are all in the grip of the menace. 

Hesitation

“Addiction is a disease. Politicisation of the drug issue has further traumatised the addicts who hesitate to come for treatment,” she pointed out. 

“Women hide their addiction and their family members are not ready to disclose that they are addicts. They come and say they are being haunted by evil spirits or ghosts.”

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A women-only rehab centre 

By Manjeet Sehgal in Amritsar 

Located at Majitha-Verka Bypass in Amritsar, The Hermitage Rehab is Punjab’s first women's drug rehabilitation centre. 

It is the brainchild of Dr Jagdeep Pal Singh Bhatia, who has been running a de-addiction centre for men for the last 20 years in the holy city.

The centre was launched on May 23, 2016, and was inaugurated by Punjab health and family welfare principal secretary Vini Mahajan. 

The Hermitage Rehab is being managed by an all-women team of medics and councillors(file picture).

The rehabilitation centre is the first of its kind in India, and boasts comprehensive women's integrated treatment (WIT) facilities. 

It is being managed by an all-women team of doctors and councillors. 

“I have been treating women drug addicts from the past 15 years. My experience showed that women addicts require a gender-specific treatment as their problems and challenges were different from the men's. 

"Firstly, they are a bit shy and do not open up easily. They do not even want to disclose the problems to their family members as in most of the cases the reason behind women's drug addiction are her close friends and relatives," says Dr Jagdeep Pal Singh Bhatia. 

The Hermitage Rehab is a breed apart from Punjab’s de-addiction centres, which have earned a bad name by exploiting the drug-addicts. Often, they lack adequate amenities and trained counsellors and psychiatrists.  

At first sight, this rehab appears to be a marriage palace as the location is known for its sprawling party and celebration palaces. The counselling is either done in the bedrooms or in the class rooms. 

There is a nursery school inside the centre for the children of addicted mothers. They are given home-cooked food besides other amenities. 

Their family members also join them at the weekends, when picnics and other get-togethers are organised. 

This rehab centre has the capacity to admit two dozen patients at a time. 

A dedicated team of two dozen female counsellors who were previously addicts are part of this centre who take care of the patients.