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Indian drug users shift to over-the-counter products

The pattern of drug abuse is changing in India as users are switching over from natural substances like opium and cannabis to prescription drugs that are surprisingly easy to procure.

An especially disquieting trend is the growing number of intravenous drug users of medicinal compounds readily available over the counter, says Dr Rajat Ray, a consultant with the United Nations International Drug Control Programme.

Buprenorphine, diazepam, pheniramin, propoxyphene and codeine in the form of syrups are just some of the medicinal compounds and synthetic psychotropic substances that abusers can easily obtain. Most such users are young males, illiterate, unemployed and sexually active, he said.

Though cannabis and raw opium have been the traditional drugs of abuse in India and other countries in the subcontinent, this trend is changing.

"Heroin, a synthetic compound, first made its appearance in the south Asian region between 1981 and 1985. In the 1990's, what has happened is that medicinal compounds or pharmaceutical preparations and psychotropics which have medicinal value cannot be banned due to their legitimate uses and are thus easily available," he said.

Experts in the region have for some time suspected that the drug patterns are changing alarmingly and that the problem is assuming frightening proportions. The biggest hurdle has been the absence of hard data, says Dr Ray.

An effort to present the nature and extent of the problem in six countries in the region -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka -- has culminated in a special report titledThe South Asia Drug Demand Reduction Report.

It will be formally released in New Delhi on February 10, said Dr Ray, its principal author.

The report focuses on non-alcoholic drugs like narcotics and psychotropic substances. It analyses the nature and extent of the problem in each of the six countries, which have had many factors in common.

According to UNDCP sources, the report tries to provide a comprehensive picture of the prevalence and patterns of drug abuse, its consequences on the individual, family and community, and the responses of governments and communities.

Describing the report as the first of its kind to document so much information in a single volume, the sources says it would serve as a reference book for planners, service providers, parliamentarians, researchers, media experts and others.

Dr Ray observes that the socio-economic consequences and health hazards resulting from rising drug abuse were enormous. These included spread of the human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis, rising unemployment and disintegration of families.

Crime and violence related to drug abuse were also on the rise and many of the countries in the region, struggling as they were with socio-economic handicaps, were unable to cope with the added burden of drug-related problems, he says.

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