The sure shot signs of identifying an alcohol and drug addict, with over 23mn addicts in India, and growing fast

There is no single age group of people more affected by alcohol and drugs than young people. It’s worrying that more than 23 million people over the age of 12 are addicted to alcohol and drugs in India. What may have started as occasional use can turn into an addiction for a lifetime that presents extraordinary health concerns with potentially grave and tragic consequences.

Even Dr Vipul Rastogi, specialist in Behavioural Neurology and Psychiatry at Medanta hospital, agrees that drug use is increasing amongst the youth of today. He admits to seeing and treating quite a few of these young people in his clinic every week with ongoing substance abuse.

ALSO READ: 5 ways to strike the right work life balance

“The substances range from using cannabis (marijuana) in various forms, sniffing glue/ petrol/ industrial solvents, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy etc. High use of alcohol amongst the youth and adolescents is a different matter altogether because of its easy accessibility, but these other substances are banned and you have to actively search for them,” he says.

Statistics from Europe suggest that half of young people have tried some illegal drugs or alcohol by the age of 16, this is perhaps too high for India but the trend is rising and in urban areas will reach this sort of figure in near future.

Notably, the rural belts of Punjab, specific areas of Haryana, the farming belt around Rudrapur (Uttarakhand) are notorious for use of Afeem (tablet form of heroin/opiates).

Despite being a doctor himself, Mr Rastogi is astounded to see the normalcy with which people talk about Afeem. “I am often told that use of Afeem is like a right of passage and from Grandfather to Grandson all use it. There are also misconceptions, misgivings or denials in a way that I am often told that quitting Afeem leads to paralysis. It makes me wonder about the efficacy of government initiatives and awareness programs.”

He explained to me how a person moves from being a first timer to an addict in no time - Normally, a young substance user will first use ‘Entry Substances’ like cannabis/marijuana or solvents before moving on to ‘harder drugs’ like cocaine or heroin.

“I was surprised to meet a 17 year old boy from Jammu, Class XII student from a middle-high class family,” he says, who had recently started inhaling heroin. “You do get exceptions in clinical practice, but he told me that most of his friends had been using Heroin for some time now and most of them were even injecting heroin.”

If we look at the reason for using substances, it varies from peer pressure to some people using it to manage their stress.

“As for my patients, it was mostly Social/ Peer pressure,” Dr Vipul says. “The desire to ‘mix in’ with the crowd and not be a ‘spoil sport’. The popular culture is what we see in music, television, films also seems to represent ‘Fun = Alcohol’ and ‘Alcohol = Fun.’”

We can help stop this. If we take note of certain early warning signs that can help identifying substance abuse amongst our loved ones:
1) Loss of interest in activities that the person used to engage previously.
2) Unexplained irritability/ moodiness
3) Exhibition of behaviour which is ‘out of character’
4) Loosing personal items like video games, mobile phones, etc
5) Stealing money

Dr Vipul feels there has to be much more emphasis on prevention and awareness initiatives.

“My suggestion would be to start from the schools, perhaps every school should have discussions on alcohol and drug abuse with their class XI or XII students, as directed by experts. These school discussions can easily be facilitated either through government departments or private organizations working within this realm. In cases where schools have certain work force or financial constraints, simple videos about substance abuse can be shown in class, which too can have a big potential to at least get people to think and make informed choices,” he says.