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BACKGROUND According to world drug report, youth from urban settings have been topping the charts for drug abuse. The alarming rate of drug abuse and especially the increase of drug abuse among youngsters has had detrimental effects on the society. There have been very few studies indicating whether the same facts hold true in rural settings too or not. Our study aimed at studying clinical details of substance abuse in adolescents and young adults in a fixed population rural Bangalore. MATERIALS AND METHODS It was a cross sectional study conducted at Nandaguri village, Hoskote Taluq, rural Bangalore, Karnataka. 175 houses, assigned to the community health center, were marked and door to door survey was done. Convenient and purposive sampling were used. The study participants were screened with WHO ASSIST questionnaire. RESULTS 175 individuals between the age groups of 13-30 were screened. 86.9% were males and 13.1% were females. 62.9% of the individuals screened had some substance abuse. 90% of the population screened satisfied lifetime use of substance. CONCLUSION The sample was comparable in terms of age group, gender, type of substance, pattern of usage of substance with the other studies. The study also found significant association between male gender and usage of substance. However, another uniqueness was that there was no significant association between the substances prevalent in the Rural Bangalore and type of family and educational status.

IntroductionCOVID-19 has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March, 2020. Opioid substitution therapy (OST) for opioid-dependent patients is an evidence-based, effective outpatient (OPD) based treatment maintained on medications(, buprenorphine-naloxone combination). These are difficult times for patients with addictive disorders. Authors came up with an idea of implementing “walk through” out patient model inspired by “Drive through” model of Mc Donalds in which Doctor and Nurses run open space OPD near to Medical record section to reduce the waiting time of patient, quick delivery and minimize droplet exposure.ObjectivesTo study the efficacy of Mc Donald’s model of OST in OST centre in Tarn Taran, india.MethodsThis was a restrospective-comparative study. We studied records of our patients using streatment as usual from September 2019 to March 2020 and using Mc Donald’s model (From April 2020 to October, 2020) for a period of 6 months during and before lockdown.ResultsThe average number of patients attending OST clinics during Covid lockdown was 352.8. The compliance rates significantly improved (57.82%), The drop out rates were much lower (20.78%), using Mc Donald’s model than usual treatment.ConclusionsAs per our knowledge, this study is first of its kind to study the efficacy of OST drug deliverance in pre Covid and Covid times and suggest, the new findings which can be inculcated in the other OSTs.

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