COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY NEEDED TO DEAL WITH DRUGS-HIV: GOVERNOR

Kohima -- Cautioning people about the tremendous cost imposed on the
society due to the spread of HV/AIDS in the northeast, Nagaland
Governor Shyamal Datta today called for adopting a comprehensive
strategy to deal with this challenge.

Calling on NGOs and Government agencies working to rehabilitate drug
addicts and HIV-infected people to share their experience, Dutta said
the current National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) strategy
followed by northeastern states was not sufficient considering the
ground situation.

A more comprehensive plan of action was needed as there was a direct
co-relation between drug abuse and HIV prevalence in the region, he said.

Speaking at a function to observe the "International Day against drug
abuse and illicit trafficking" here, Dutta said the drug menace was
no more a health-related or enforcement issue in Nagaland, Manipur
and Mizoram. It had become a social issue and "Everyone of us should
understand and forsee the economic cost of it in the days to come
when we have limited resources for development activities", he said.

Sharing their experiences on recovering drug addicts and counselling
in de-addiction centres, NGO workers asked law enforcing agencies to
be more stringent as narcotics are easily available in Nagaland. They
said unless the supply of drugs is curbed, no amount of effort for
demand reduction will yield positive results.