HICAS conducts ‘Capacity Building Program on Children affected by Drug Abuse for School Teachers / Counselors’
The Department of Social Work, Hindusthan College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore is organizing a three days ‘Capacity Building Programme on Children affected by Drug Abuse for School Teachers / Counselors’ in collaboration with National Institute of Social Defence from 24th – 26th September 2019
The program was inaugurated by Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City Sumit Sharan IPS on 24th September. The participants from various private and government schools participated approximately from 40 schools. The Chief Guest’s speech highlighted the prevailing drug rate among children in today’s scenario. He said pharmaceutical products that have a small amount of narcotic elements are also increasingly being abused among school going children.
Easily accessible products like whiteners, adhesive and codeine-based cough syrups continue to be diverted from the domestic market for abuse. The introduction of synthetic drugs and intravenous drug use leading to HIV/AIDS has added a new dimension to the problem. He said Drug abuse has led to a detrimental impact on the society. With most drug users being in the productive age among children, the loss in terms of human potential is incalculable. The damage to the physical, psychological, moral and intellectual growth of the children is very high. Child drug abuse is one of the major areas of concern in correctional setting of social work.
He stated that Child and adolescent substance use and abuse are highly significant public health problems. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines an adolescent as any person between ages 10 and 19 years. Consumption of illicit substances has increased all over the world and the age of initiation of use is falling progressively.
Substance use at a young age is usually associated with a poor prognosis and a lifelong pattern of irresponsible behavior. It is estimated that, in India, by the time most boys reach ninth grade, 50% of them have tried at least one of the substance of the abuse nature. Influence of peers and close contacts that use substances are usually responsible for initiating their use in others.