In a positive fallout of the coronavirus-led lockdown, Punjab has achieved a major success" against the malady of drug abuse with over 86,000 addicts registering themselves for treatment amid the nearly total curb on narcotics peddling, a senior official said on Monday.

A total of 86,371 new patients registered themselves for treatment at 198 Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) clinics, including private ones across the state, he said, adding a total of 5,00,552 patients have been treated in OOAT clinics and de-addiction centres till May 6, 2020, he said

Special Task Force chief-cum-ADGP Harpreet Singh Sidhu said OOAT clinic programme is a "complete success and one of the most prominent efforts in de-addiction treatment across the world".

He added that due to the improved registration at OOAT clinics, the duration of take-home medication was increased to 21 days which gave major relief to patients as well as clinics' staffers.

"The OOAT model provides for medication-counseling-peer support services in an outpatient clinic," said Sidhu, in a statement.

The STF chief added that the Drug Abuse Prevention Officers programme, launched by the Punjab Government, supervises community activities for preventing drug abuse in their neighborhood and to link drug users with de-addiction centers.

Approximately, 5.43 lakh DAPOs have already been registered out of which 88,710 are officials and 4,54,332 are private citizens, he added.

Sidhu said the STF has designed 'Comprehensive Action against Drug Abuse (CADA)' strategy which is based on Enforcement-De-addiction-Prevention (EDP) approach.

Elaborating upon the strategy, he added that it is a 360-degree approach to controlling the drug abuse in the state and seeks to synergize the efforts of all government departments with active participation of all sections of the society to control the drug menace.

He said a total of 14,90,516 persons have been made aware of ill-effects of the drug abuse.

Besides, 2,05,619 drug abuse victims have been contacted out of which 98,278 have been sent to de-addiction or OOAT centers so far, he said.

The STF chief further said that a Buddy Programme initiated by the force is aimed at protecting school children and college and university students and youths from the drug abuse.

Under this initiative, approximately 15,976 educational institutions have been covered so far in which 37,36,718 students took active participation.

Apart from this, 12,124 nodal officers, 1,27,146 senior buddies and 7,48,926 buddy groups| have also been appointed or formed, he said.

In addition to this, 37,24,090 students formed into buddy groups and 6,28,606 programmes/activities have conducted so far, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)