Anniversary of freedom from drugs

Narcotics Anonymous is an international organisation working since 1953 to help addicts recover. The organisation gives a platform to addicts when all doors have been closed on them; it encourages addicts to speak of their experiences, to ask questions, pick up a "sponsor" and open up about their problems. Once the person acknowledges that he or she is a drug-abuser, they are helped to summon up the motivation to quit.

NA keeps the identity of members anonymous. Its "12-steps" spiritual programme aims to change the addicts’ attitude to life. There is no fee to join NA, but the only criterion is a desire to leave the drug.

Says Abhishek, an "old-timer": "Before I came to NA, I was a scared, selfish soul who’d manipulate others, steal, cheat, even kill to get my dose." Now, seven years drug-free, he thanks his higher power and attends the meetings to stay that way.

Chandigarh has plenty of drug addicts, some of them still in school. Although the typical image of a youthful drug addict is a boy experimenting with a joint to show how macho he is, the sad fact is that girls too fall prey to drug-abuse.

A number of addicts in this age group were attending the NA meeting. They spoke of the beginnings of their addiction — in high school when teenage turmoil, combined with parental neglect (or excessive pampering), and their own egoistic "I, me, myself" attitude led them to seek false highs in life.For the girls, the first menthol cigarette may well be a slippery step down the abyss.

Ex-addicts told of how they would try to hide drug use by spending excessive time in the bathroom, but burns on the fingers usually gave them away.Six chapters of NA meet in Chandigarh: Gratitude group on Monday and Friday at 6 p.m. at Lajpat Bhawan (basement); Back-to-Life group on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Baptist Church School in Sector 44-C; New Path group on Thursday at 6.30 p.m. at the Catholic Church, Sector 19-A; Serene group on Saturday, at 6:30 p.m. at Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, Chandigarh; or contact PO Box 1123, Sector 15, Chandigarh.