Prevalence of substance abuse: a community based study

Abstract

The term "psychoactive substances" encompasses tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs (e.g. opioids, cannabinoids and cocaine) as well as psychoactive prescription drugs and solvents. Today, there is no part of the world that is free from the curse of drug trafficking and drug addiction. India too is caught in this vicious circle of drug abuse, and the numbers of drug addicts are increasing day by day. 1 According to the World health organization (WHO) substance abuse is persistent or sporadic drug use inconsistent with or unrelated to acceptable medical practice. 2 As per the world health report 2002, tobacco and alcohol use were among the 10 leading risk factors for the global burden of disease measured in DALYs. Globally, tobacco and alcohol as a risk factors cause 4.1% and 4.0% of the total burden of disability respectively. 4.2% of the global population aged 15 and over used illicit drugs, causing 0.8% of the total burden of disability. 3 In India tobaccoattributable mortality is estimated to increase from 1% of total mortality in 1990 to 13% by 2020. 4 According to a UN report, One million heroin addicts are registered in India, and unofficially there are as many as five million. 1 Cannabis, heroin, and Indian-produced pharmaceutical drugs are the most frequently abused drugs in India. Cannabis products, often called Charas, Bhang or Ganja are abused throughout the country because it has attained some amount of religious sanctity because of its association with some Hindu deities. 5 Numerous surveys have been conducted since the early 1970 at various levels and in various populations in India to assess the ABSTRACT Background: Tobacco, alcohol, and illicit substance use continue to result in substantial morbidity and mortality and significant societal economic costs despite considerable efforts to minimize use of illicit substances and prevent use of illicit substances. The objective is to estimate the prevalence of substance use and its association with sociodemographic variables. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out through house to house visits on 1341 randomly selected people of 10 years and above age group in urban area of Surendranagar city, Gujarat, India. Results: In present study, overall prevalence of substance abuse was 18.86%. The mean age of onset for drug use was 26.9 years. Proportion of substance abuse found to be greater among males (79.84%), those who were from class IV (68.37%), those who were belongs to joint families (61.67%) and who were literate (55.73%). The most common substance to be abused was tobacco (38%) followed by alcohol (34%). Females showed high prevalence for chhikni or bajjar (80.39%). Conclusions: Our study revealed that in spite of having strict legislation for prohibition of substance abuse, people are still addicted with alcohol, cannabis, drugs etc. So prohibition has done nothing more than drive liquor underground. There is a need to change either in law or in behavior of people at large.

A cross sectional comparative study of quality of life of treatments seekers at de-addiction centre in central India using WHO BREF scale

“…In present study, most of the substance user started taking drugs between the ages of 15 to 25 years with the mean age at first use of the primary substance use was 18.51 (±4.46) years which was found similar in other studies. 7,8 In the present study, majority of the participants were in the age group of 25 to 44 years (middle adulthood) with mean (±S.D) age of 31.52 (±8.17) years. The findings are comparable to findings of other studies.…”

“…This also indicates the fact that the young individuals from affluent class of the society had sufficient money to afford the cost of substance. But on the contrary, the various studies showed that the prevalence of substance abuse was also higher among the poor socio economic strata of the community, found in the various studies as in Dadwani et al and Arora et al 7,20 Alcohol and tobacco were the most common substances abused. The prevalence of alcohol and tobacco was found to be 96% and 85.60% in study group as compared to 20.80% and 22.40% in comparison group.…”

“…13,15,16,20 In the present study 26% of the participants were students or unemployed, similar to the findings of other studies. 7,11,12,16,17 Student or unemployed people are more curious to use the substance and easily get influenced by peer groups. In various studies it was observed that students have opportunity of movement from one place to another and they receive monetary assistance from family for educational purpose.…”

A study of socio-demographic profile and pattern of drug use among substance abusers attending mind care de-addiction center in Ahmedabad

“…Similar to earlier study Kumar et al conducted in Indian settings we can infer that alcohol is the commonest drug of abuse followed by tobacco. 10 Consumption of the traditional drugs like opium and cannabis were remarkably low as compared to alcohol and tobacco, which is near about in range of their use reported from other study Dadwani et al, Maruf et al 18,20 It showed effects of urbanization and shifting from traditional way of life to modern life.…”

“…But on the contrary, the various studies Kumar et al, Dadwani et al showed that the prevalence of substance abuse was also higher among the poor socio economic strata of the community. 10,18 It indicates that with increase of income purchasing power also increases and in the highest income group drug abuse decreases. Similar to earlier study Kumar et al conducted in Indian settings we can infer that alcohol is the commonest drug of abuse followed by tobacco.…”