📄 Abstract
Drug-use responses increasingly require movement beyond isolated prevention campaigns and punitive approaches toward integrated systems encompassing prevention, early intervention, treatment, rehabilitation, harm reduction, recovery, social reintegration and community participation. This article examines the prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, recovery, legal, policy and institutional responses to drug use in Meghalaya within the wider Indian framework. Drawing on government policies, national programmes, empirical research and Meghalaya-specific initiatives, the article analyses the extent to which existing responses address the multidimensional nature of substance use. It focuses on school-based prevention, community-based interventions, the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction, Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, the Meghalaya Drug Abuse Prevention Policy 2020, and the Drug Reduction Elimination & Action Mission (DREAM). The article further examines treatment accessibility, rehabilitation infrastructure, social reintegration, vocational support, relapse prevention, ethical standards, client rights and barriers to treatment. The evidence indicates that India has developed a broad institutional architecture for drug-demand reduction. Still, significant gaps remain in service accessibility, continuity of care, workforce capacity, social reintegration, and community-level treatment support. In Meghalaya, the emergence of DREAM represents an effort to coordinate social mobilisation, recovery pathways, and drug-regulation mechanisms. Community institutions such as Dorbar Shnongs, Nokmas, Village Health Councils, youth organisations, and other local actors provide important opportunities for locally grounded prevention. However, these mechanisms require sustained institutional coordination, professional capacity, adequate financing and rights-based oversight. The article argues for a continuum-of-care model in which prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, livelihood support, community reintegration and long-term recovery are treated as interconnected rather than separate interventions.
🏷️ Keywords
📚 How to Cite:
Wandaia Syngkon , Hazel Berret Wahlang , FROM PREVENTION TO RECOVERY: COMMUNITY, INSTITUTIONAL, POLICY AND REHABILITATION RESPONSES TO DRUG USE IN MEGHALAYA , Volume 12 , Issue 9, September 2026, EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) , Pages: 708 - 714 , DOI: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra29098