The endemic issue of drug abuse is not an isolated problem and it spunks more, the moment an angle of economics gets associated with it.
Today, ironically one starts drugs with using, then suffering and eventually at the end the sufferers become the drug sellers who have to directly and indirectly involved in trafficking of these ‘death on wheels’ substances like tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, heroine, LSD and many more.
Therefore, along with the intention to limp the supply side of these substances, emphasis should be laid more on the pattern of its usage. With the same objectivity, Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan in the divine stewardship of His Holiness Ashutosh Maharaj Ji, under its drug abuse eradication program BODH is running a drive ’UTTHAAN’ in order to sublimate or eradicate the problem of drug abuse in the state of Maharashtra.
Therefore, as its first step, in the initial months various school communities, residential communities and workplace communities are demarcated at more than 6 districts of Maharashtra, namely Mumbai, Amravati, Pune, Nagpur, Latur and Ahmednagar.
Prior to the conduction of the surveys, under the program’s specialized volunteer training module ‘ Bodh Kaksha’, volunteers are trained with the help of interactive workshops, activities, field visits, demonstrations, video screenings where each volunteer is given ‘personal interaction time’ in order for ensuring the proper understanding of the workability of the campaign.
Along with formulation of the teams, various experts are called to train the volunteers on how to develop tools, questionnaires and survey forms for the conduction of surveys. They also shares various do’s and don’ts of direct & indirect interviews, personal meetings, formal and informal interactions for the collection of the correct and appropriate data during the survey. During surveys various meetings with the villages’ heads, advocates, hospital authorities, workplace owners and school authorities are conducted and documented to have an overall scenario of the problem of drug abuse in each community.
While conducting the surveys, volunteers prepares their observation sheets individually for the better understanding of the cultural and social belief system of each area so that further activities can be moulded given the available cultural and social fabric of the local society for better acceptance and support from each area.
Based on the same, for surveying the target areas in the state of Maharashtra using sampling techniques like simple random sampling and systematic random sampling methods, some of the communities are selected like Churni Village (taluka chikhildara ), MHADA Colony ( Akoli Road, Amravati), Morshi (taluka Morshi) , Dipti Signal & Vasantrao Naik Basti in nagpur, kenhari tanda & sonvati village in Latur district, Maalibabulgaon & Dangewadi in Ahmednagar, Beed Vasti and more than 50 workplaces and Schools were surveyed throughout these months.
Based on the inclusive model developed for Utthaan Campaign, workshops, mass sensitization programs, activities, meetings, street plays, advocacy sessions, marches, interactive activities are organized in the third phase for the following steps:
- Initial Mass Introductory Sessions in the Community
- Awareness Workshops at Educational Institutions.
- Group and Individual counselling sessions for drug users.
- Mass Awareness Programs in communities.
- Awareness and Counselling sessions at Workplaces.
In the fourth phase, following activities will be conducted:
- Assessment of the work done.
- Report Development
To organize such workshops at your school, college, institutions you can mail us at [email protected] or can contact our nearest branch by clicking on www.djjs.org/contact. For more information visit at www.djjs.org/bodh
Bodh- the drug abuse eradication program of DJJS, works for the elimination of drug abuse and eradication of drug demand through ‘Dhyan Therapy’, thereby transforming the drug afflicted society into an abuse free society; where people are mentally, emotionally and spiritually strong to safeguard themselves and the society against drug and substance abuse.
