D&FCO organises mega awareness program to promote fight against Drug abuse
Jun 10, 2023
DODA: Drugs and Food Control Organization J&K, with active support of Chemist Association District Doda and Kishtwar, on Saturday conducted day long awareness programme at Doda.
The Department, in continuation to its UT wide campaign, organised an awareness programme in District Doda. The State Drug Controller, J&K, Lotika Khajuria and the Jammu based officers, Mohammad Iqbal, Deputy Drugs Controller, Jammu Division, Surinder Mohan, Deputy Drugs Controller (HQ) J&K, and Renuka Raina, Deputy Controller, IL&C, attended the said programme.
The officers shared their extensive knowledge, expertise & experience in an endeavor to impart awareness to all the stakeholders. The audience were urged to proactively rope in the religious leaders to sensitize the masses in religious places about the evil effects of drug abuse. They said that every individual has equal responsibility to effectively fight the menace of drug abuse and to assert the zero tolerance approach adopted by the UT administration against the perpetrators of this evil.
Besides the officers, people from different sections of the society particularly prominent Citizens, NGO's, members of trade fraternity attended the programme.
The main objective of the awareness programme was to strengthen the role and cooperation of trade fraternity and other stakeholders to achieve a society free of Drug Abuse.
Speaking on the occasion, the State Drug Controller, Lotika Khajuria, exhorted the Pharma Trade Fraternity to stock and sell medicinal formulations strictly in consonance to the conditions of licenses and in adherence to the mandate of law. She asked them to procure medicines through regulated channels to ensure the genuineness of medicinal products. She also sensitized the audience to be sincere and honest in eradication of the menace of misuse of habit forming formulations.
She reiterated that the Government has initiated pro active measures by constituting District Level Monitoring Committees under NCORD to bring an end to this menace and rehabilitate the affected youth.
As an effective measure to curb the misuse of habit forming drugs, the department has issued various guidelines from time to time to follow and also to switch over to the computerized system of billing for maintenance of records and installation of CCTV along with the launch of toll free help line number on complaints of drug abuse.
Further, extensive inspections of sale establishments were carried out at Baderwah, Thatri and Kishtwar area by a team of Drug Control Officers under the personal supervision, I/c Assistant Drug Controller Doda/ Kishtwar and under the overall supervision of State Drug Controller, J&K for two days.
More than 30 sale outlets were checked with special emphasis on maintenance of sale records of schedule H1 Drugs, installation of CCTV and computerized billing system in and around the tertiary health care hospital. Operation of five sale establishments was disallowed on spot for violating the conditions of licenses.
Twenty Drug samples of lesser known brands were lifted from wholesale and retail outlets to ascertain the purity and efficacy. An interactive session was also held with the Police authorities of Kishtwar to seek interdepartmental cooperation and coordination to collectively fight the drug abuse in the area. It was made clear that any chemist found indulged in wrongdoing wrt the misuse of psychotropic drugs shall invite penal action under law.
