As India grapples with a worsening drug addiction crisis, where access to treatment remains patchy and burdened by stigma, a groundbreaking proposal from Nagaland University offers a potential path forward. Legal scholars there have put forward a visionary idea: a 'Digital Rehabilitation Law' designed to modernize and expand the country's recovery ecosystem for the 21st century.
Bridging the Gap with Technology-Driven Recovery
The proposal, born from a comprehensive doctrinal study, argues that India's conventional rehabilitation systems have long been hampered by limited reach, severe understaffing, and deep-rooted social stigma. This has left vast numbers of people struggling with addiction without the sustained support they need. The researchers, Dr. Rumi Dhar and Ms. Tania Anya from the Department of Law at Nagaland University, advocate for a fundamental shift. They position rehabilitation not as a peripheral concern but as a central pillar of national public health and drug policy.
Their study, published in the internationally indexed KDU Law Journal, represents one of India's earliest legal analyses focusing on how law and policy, rather than just clinical science, can support tech-enabled recovery. The core idea is to create a forward-looking legal framework that seamlessly integrates artificial intelligence (AI), telemedicine, and mobile health technologies into the addiction care landscape.
A Legal Framework for Ethical Tech Integration
The research meticulously evaluates how existing Indian laws, such as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (2023), the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines (2020), and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (1985), can accommodate new digital tools. While acknowledging the immense promise of AI-driven relapse prediction and virtual counselling platforms, the study highlights critical legal gaps that must be addressed.
"This study is both unique and urgently relevant," explained Dr. Rumi Dhar. "Our proposed legislative model of a 'Digital Rehabilitation Law' will harmonize India’s current legal provisions to support safe, ethical and tech-enabled addiction treatment." She emphasized that while technology can dramatically improve access, especially for rural and underserved communities, robust safeguards are non-negotiable to protect patient privacy, dignity, and ensure informed consent and algorithmic accountability.
Echoing this sentiment, Ms. Tania Anya outlined concrete policy steps derived from their analysis. Key recommendations include:
- Establishing a National Digital Rehabilitation Regulatory Authority.
- Amending the NDPS Act to formally recognize digital rehabilitation pathways.
- Launching pilot programs for AI- and telemedicine-based interventions.
- Implementing nationwide digital literacy training for both healthcare providers and patients.
Learning from Global Success Stories
The Nagaland University study draws inspiration from successful international models. It points to app-based interventions like Australia’s Daybreak and peer-support networks such as Sober Grid, which use everyday technology to boost motivation and community support. The research also cites AI-powered relapse prediction systems used in the United States and the European Union, which provide early alerts for timely clinical intervention.
Furthermore, telemedicine frameworks like Project ECHO and Vermont’s hub-and-spoke model demonstrate how digital connections can extend specialist care to the remotest areas. The researchers argue that integrating similar architectures into India's national platforms, like e-Sanjeevani, could revolutionize access to supervised addiction treatment—provided a clear, rights-based legal framework is in place to govern it.
Commending the innovative work, Prof. Jagadish K. Patnaik, Vice Chancellor of Nagaland University, highlighted the institution's commitment to socially relevant research. He expressed confidence that such forward-looking scholarship would contribute meaningfully to national dialogues on public health and technological governance.
Ultimately, the proposal frames digital rehabilitation not as a mere technological shortcut, but as a carefully governed public health intervention. It seeks to blend innovation with accountability, and expand access without compromising on the dignity and rights of every individual seeking recovery.
