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Gaining `Mukti' from addiction
Open doors.
In a State which has the highest percentage of alcohol consumption nationally, alcoholism is a problem in every other house. There is always someone in most of the families who is an addict. It is not talked about openly, only confided with close friends and family even though the whole locality may know about it.
Usually, addiction to alcohol or drugs starts between the ages of 15 and 20. The age of experimentation, say psychologists. It is mostly the `barred' things which attract their attention.
Experimentation when done in `bad' company gives rise to addiction, says the psychiatrist, S.D. Singh. He is also one of the main forces behind Mukti, Information and Counselling Centre for Drug, Alcohol, Tobacco Addiction at Kadavanthra. A project of Kochi Corporation, it is a purely voluntary service centre which was started in 1990 with the help of the then District Collector, K.R. Rajan, says Dr. Singh. ``It has no funding,'' he adds.
Mukti gets 4-5 patients a day some times and there are also days when there is no patient. Says a voluntary counsellor at Mukti, Malini Menon, ``most of the young boys who turn up at the centre are addicted to Tidigesic.'' Some times it is the police who send them to us and some times it is the family or friends who bring them over.
Most of the alcohol-addicts are in their 30s and 40s, says Mrs. Menon. And all who come to Mukti are from the lower economic strata. Their addiction adds to their problems, she says.
``We are very strict with our patients, in the sense that they have to follow what the doctors and the counsellors prescribe. We convey the message that unless they cooperate with us we cannot do anything,'' she says.
Most of the patients tell long stories. They want someone to listen to their problems. Peer pressure is something which makes most of the people take to alcohol or drugs, she says.
``We try to get in touch with the patient who refuses to turn up for his counselling after 2-3 sittings,'' Mrs. Menon says. There are also those who come back with their families to say that they are a happy lot.
It is usually difficult for a institution to run totally on voluntary service, without any funding. In fact, Dr. Singh believes that the term voluntary will lose its meaning if any money is involved in the project. There was an attempt to get some Government grant for the project, but it failed as no lobbying was done, he says. Nobody has since attempted again.
``Complication of addiction will not come down if we do not take up preventive programmes,'' he says.
Mukti has brought out a small booklet called Lifestyle Education Programme. Creating awareness in schools and conducting a survey about addiction with the help of Rotary Clubs and other such agencies are some of the preventive measures taken by Mukti, entirely by its volunteers.
Dr. Singh believes that those who want to do voluntary service at Mukti or any other such organisation do not have to see whether it is getting a grant or not.
Voluntary service requires your time and, of course, your money at times. One has to be willing to part with it, he adds.
By Shyama Rajagopal
Photo: H. Vibhu
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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