Medical treatment forms the basis in management of drug addiction/substance use disorders. The Akal Drug De-Addiction Services, under the auspices of The Kalgidhar Trust offers to collaborate with the organisations/institutions that might be interested to seek treatment for the drug addiction/substance use disorders of the individuals working with them, or are interested in learning more about this major public health problem. A recent national survey on magnitude of substance use in India shows that alcohol, cannabis and opioids are the three major categories of psychoactive substances used in India. The figures are worrying. The study also brought out a large gap between demand and availability of treatment services for individuals struggling with drug addiction and substance use disorder.

The Akal Drug De-Addiction Centres at Baru Sahib (Himachal Pradesh) and at Cheema Sahib (Punjab) have well qualified multi-disciplinary faculty and staff, medical doctors (psychiatrists included), counsellors/nursing and para-medical staff, laboratory personnel to render various modalities of care. Clinical care is provided through outpatient and inpatient settings. Help is available for the treatment of disorders related to use of all the substances i.e. alcohol, opioids, cannabis, tobacco etc. and behavioural addictions. Treatment modalities include both pharmacological (i.e. with medications) and non-pharmacological (i.e. psychological/social/spiritual) treatments. Also, several drugs of abuse are screened simultaneously through analysis of patient’s urine sample. Our centres are also involved in providing health education and prevention of addictive disorders.

We offer to hold sessions in institutions regarding drug addiction and its ill effects on individual, family and the society. Our services shall also be available to the organisations and institutions desirous of getting treatment of drug-addiction by the employees/workers in their set-ups.
The endeavour of the Akal Drug De-Addiction services is also in accordance with the spirit of the United Nations Conventions and the existing Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDSP) Act 1985, and NDPS policy, 1912. Under this policy the Government of India prepared a National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) for 2018-2023.

The NAPDDR aims to focus on preventive education, awareness generation, identification, counselling, treatment and rehabilitation of drug dependent persons and training and capacity building of the service providers through collaborative efforts of the Central and State Governments, Non-Governmental Organisations and other voluntary organisations.