Drug use in Health and Mental Illness in an Indian Population

Abstract

The use of drugs (as intoxicants) is universal; the hedonistic use of such drugs has led to their abuse, and has always been a social problem. Although the indulgence in some drugs is confined to certain cultures, others like alcohol have been commonly used all over the world. Alcohol, opium, hemp (cannabis and its several preparations) have been widely used for their exhilarating qualities.

Prevalence and Pattern of Alcohol Abuse in a Rural Area of Punjab

“…The prevalence of substance abuse in other studies conducted at different places in India has been reported in the range of 5 to 54%. In a study conducted in Agra by Dube and Handa (1971) on drug use in Indian population, higher prevalence rate of drug use (50.08%) was found (22) . Another study done by Meena et al in 2002 in Rohtak city studied Prevalence and pattern of alcohol and substance abuse in urban areas and reported a prevalence rate of 19.78% (23) .…”

“…As a developing country, India is very much in the phase of these processes and the trends of drug abuse and dependence need to be watched. (3) According to World Drug Report (2009) there were 25,71,52582 alcohol users, alcohol dependents were 8,22,88826. Cannabis users were 82,28,883 and Opiate users were 2,057,221 in India.…”

Comparison of Sociodemographic and Clinical Variables in Schizophrenics With and Without Substance Abuse

“…In a general population study, 13.69% of schizophrenics were found to use drugs as compared to 16.33% of manic depressive patients and 2.21% of normal population. 19 Only 79 of 480 schizophrenics (16.5%) abused drugs, mainly alcohol or cannabis in another study. 20 No study in India has focused on reasons for drug abuse or perceived effect of substances in schizophrenia.…”

A Prospective Study to Assess Pattern of Alcohol and Other Substance Abuse in Slum Population of Indore

“…Most of the studies which have been conducted found that alcohol was the commonest substance used (60-98%) followed by cannabis use (4-20%) 2,3,4,5 . Epidemiological surveys also revealed that 20-40% of subjects above 15 years are current users of alcohol and 10% of them are regular or excessive users.…”