MRR Alcohol & Drug Abuse Treatment & Rehabilitation Centre opened about a month ago on Mangammanapalya Main Road. And already, there are about 8 patients undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse. Most of them are married with children and average 35 years.
DETOXING & COUNSELLING
According to supervisor KS Harish, the inpatients are being detoxed and counselled on a daily basis for a minimum of one month before they are released from the centre. “We have no strict timeframe…. they coudl stay longer than one month,” he told Residents Watch. “They are given detox tablets after being given a prescription by Dr Prashanth.”
Their daily schedule is to wake up at 5.45am and go back to sleep by 9.50pm. Inbetween, they get to do walks, exercise, yoga, TV watching, newspaper reading, sleep, discussions (one hour) and sharing their stories (1 hour). The discussion is between 10am and 11am while the sharing is in the evening. “Once they rehabilitation is complete, we call the family members and listen to both sides on their problems with each other. It’s family counselling time.”
During their discharge, the recovered addicts are given a schedule of meetings by Alcoholics Anonymous, a voluntary group of likeminded addicts to share for one hour every day in different places. “If they are serious about recovery, they will go and recover,” says Harish. “It’s one of the continuous treatment principles.”
The centre can only take male inmates. If women do come to them, they refer them to other centres. This ‘half-way home’ is managed by the MRR Trust that also runs a school and montessori in MG Palya.
Drug addiction
While all the inmates here have come to recover from alcohol abuse, the centre is also a drug deaddiction hub. According to Harish, ganja (cannabies) are the most common although there are also “solution addicts” who light up whiteners and inhale its fumes to get high. “This is quite common among slum children,” says Harish. “Gutkha addiction is more common in women in slums, garment factories and even middle class homes. Gutkha is more dangerous than cigarettes as you are chewing raw tobacco. If your mouth ulcers don’t go away despite treatment, it leads to cancer.”
Who is an addict?
A person who drinks whenever he wants and has no sense of time. “An addict is a person who has no control over his consumable capacity unlike social drinkers who do,” says Harish. “Some addicts drink in the morning and some get up at 2am for the same reason.”
Help is at hand
NRR Alcohol & Drug Abuse Treatment & Rehabilitation Centre
Mangammanapalya Main Road, Bommanahalli
Phones: 98457-34446, 98452-34447
