On the high road

Another ‘International Day Against Drug Abuse’ is being observed on June 26. But drug de-addiction centres across the City have been registering increasing cases of drug addiction and not much seems to have changed over the years.
    According to studies conducted in the City, boys and girls from middle class and lower middle class fall prey to drugs more easily and quickly than those from affluent backgrounds.

Girls in the age group of 16 to 25 years end up with hard drugs such as brown sugar and cocaine, while boys start with light drugs such as marijuana, grass and Eraze Ex and soon move on to heavier ones like LSD, cocaine, Ecstasy and brown sugar.

Metrolife interacted with counsellors and those who’ve overcome the addiction to understand why the problem persists in the City and what measures one can take to stop the young from getting hooked on to it.

Most counsellors at de-addiction centres across the City point out that addicts don’t want to accept that they have a problem.

“They are in a state of denial and don’t want to seek help. First, we have to get the person to accept that he or she has a problem and then proceed with the treatment,” says Dr Ashok Rao who’s with the ‘Freedom Foundation’. He adds, “The addict is first taken to a family physician when behavioural changes occur. I would suggest that parents refrain from doing this and take them to a specialist. A physician can’t help.”

The Centre for Addiction Medicine, NIMHANS has been working among drug
addicts for the last few years and Dr Pratima Murthy of  the Centre observes that the
cases of drug addiction  has increased over the years, “We’ve noticed that there’s an increasing shift from illicit drugs like heroin and brown sugar to pharmaceutical drugs such as Pentazocine, Buprenorphine and Spasmo Proxyvon. And what’s
surprising is that the pharmaceutical drugs are easily given out at most pharmacies without a prescription. This trend must be more regulated,” Pratima points out.

 She feels education about the right lifestyle and an open relationship with parents could go a long way in veering the young away from drugs.

People who have overcome drug addiction say they didn’t have it easy. Danny, now in a regular job, says he was introduced to drugs through friends when he was in school.
 “What started off as a curiosity factor soon grew and assumed dangerous proportions. I reached a stage where I couldn’t stay without drugs and had to discontinue my education. I also started mixing drugs with alcohol,” confessed Danny who has been
put through several rehabilitation centres across the country and it took him more
than 10 years to get rid of the problem.

Mahesh Prasad, Director, Shakti De-addiction  Centre lost his family and uined his career, thanks to his addiction to drugs, “I began drugs when I was in class seven. When I took it for the first time, I began to feel light and good. I couldn’t stay without a dose
of it everyday. And soon, I would turn to it whenever I had a problem,” he said and added, “I had reached a stage where I couldn’t even stand up and that’s when I went to a rehabilitation centre where I was put through a rigorous process to normalise.”