Dear Fellow Citizens,

Gujarat is a "dry state" theoretically but in reality illicit liquor is available everywhere in the state. On an average, Gujarat police registers around 2 lakh cases per year under the prohibition act (NCRB) but couldn't control the liquor supply as there is a high demand. As a result, problem of alcoholism is quite visible in the state.

On the other hand, Gujarat is ranked 5th in abuse of sedatives in India, as around 7 lakh of sedative abusers aged between 10 and 75 years are there in the state (Ambekar et al., 2019). A media report revealed that Gujarat was ranked 3rd in drug overdose related deaths in India, in the year 2015 and 2016 (Chauhan, 2018). In 2019, before the general elections, the Election Commission seized drugs worth about 500 crore from Gujarat, and Gujarat was on the top in the list of the states where drugs were seized by the EC (Seth, 2019). The recent seizure of heroin from Mundra port was a single largest seizure of narcotics in the world! These all evidences are indicators of high demand for illicit drugs and substances in the state.

Providing treatment and cure to addiction victims is crucial component of the demand reduction policy, which has been proven to be a successful policy approach in the world in addressing the problem of drugs and substance addiction.

Currently, only 6 out of the 33 districts have government de-addiction and rehabilitation (Integrated Rehabilitation Centre for Addicts) facilitiy. Whereas people from the rest 27 districts have no choice but to live with their addictions. Many young persons have died of alcoholism or drug overdose in the absent of treatment opportunity in the state. Hence, we demand, from the Gujarat government, establishment of de-addiction and rehabilitation facility in every district of Gujarat to provide opportunity of a healthier and dignified life to all addiction victims equally.