Belthangady: The government will formulate a programme for alcohol de-addiction on the lines of the de-addiction model developed by Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Programme.

Apart from helping the alcohol addicted people to come out of the addiction, the government will also contemplate on introducing a programme to help addiction-free people to build a new life, said Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader.

He was speaking at a workshop to the office-bearers of Akhila Karnataka Janajagruthi Vedike and felicitation to alcohol addiction-free people, organised by Vedike under the aegis of SKDRDP, at Belthangady on Saturday. The Minister while hailing the efforts of the Vedike in helping people to lead an addiction-free life, said that all the de-addiction camps in the State were private initiatives. The government too will chalk out plans to introduce alcohol de-addiction programmes based on the successful model of SKDRDP. Meanwhile, the government will also plan to help those who have become addiction-free to start their lives afresh. Perhaps, assisting them in availing banks loans in a hassle-free way would help them to build their lives, he said.

He also instructed the medical shops not to sell medicines to the people, especially the youth, without prescription.

Earlier, inaugurating the programme Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade hailed the decision of the Kerala government to ban the sale of liquor and batted for the Karnataka government to follow the same initiative. Banning the sale of alcohol will lead to reduced consumption and save a lot of resources, he said. Heggade also emphasised on the need to create awareness about the impact of alcoholism among youth, so that at least a few percentage of youth become concious.

Vedike submitted a memorandum to the government with a list of demands including, withdrawal of the system of fixing excise target and gradually ban the sale of consumption of liquor, form a committee to make a scientific study on social and financial impact of liquor consumption, discuss with the district or taluk Janajagruthi Vedike before issuing license to liquor shops in village level, include chapters to create awareness about alcohol and other bad habits in textbooks.