Drug Addiction Is Destroying Families One After The Other, And We Are Just Silent Witnesses

It was only after getting married to Prakash, his wife Lata Srivastava realised he was a drug addict. What started as an occasional smoke-up with friends, soon turned Prakash into an addict, leaving him dependent on daily injections to be able to even start his morning routine.

¡°My husband never once in his whole life contributed to the family income. Despite being a clerk in a government office, all his hard-earned salary was gulped in by his own monstrous addiction. I was forced to work as a household help. My daughters couldn¡¯t even finish high school due to all the tension at home,¡± says Lata, as she prepares to get her elder daughter married next month.

reuters

Prakash passed away last year due to drug overdose. Lata, now runs a tiffin-service for college students from her house in Agra,Uttar Pradesh.

Her daughters recollect their childhood memories--memories that snatched them of their innocence at a very young age. Like any other addict¡¯s family, they too,had to face the societal wrath of having a nashedi baap (wrecked father).

¡°I was bullied at school, even by my teachers, because of my father¡¯s addiction... Only if he had not abused drugs, I wonder how different our lives would¡¯ve been today,¡± says Aishwarya, Lata¡¯s 18-year-old daughter.

But Prakash¡¯s family isn¡¯t the only one in this country who had to bear the brunt of substance abuse. A research published in the Asian Journal of Psychiatry confirms that a majority of the people who inject drugs (PWID) start their drug use careers by using non-injecting opioid drugs.

reuters/representational image

A recent report conducted by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) under the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, revealed that there are 8.5 Lakh People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) in our country.

It was found in the survey that the states leading in PWID were Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland.

The report titled ¡°Magnitude of Substance Use in India¡± showed that usage of other psychoactive substances such as cannabis (bhang and ganja/charas), opioids (opium, heroin and pharmaceutical opioids), cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), sedatives, inhalants and hallucinogens have also increased significantly.

Social stigma, a speed breaker for those seeking help

In a majority of Indian households, drug/alcohol addiction is perceived as a bad habit and not a mental disease.

reuters/representational image

While International bodies such as the World Health Organisation, the International Labour Organisation, and others recognise addiction as a mental disease, due to the lack of understanding,Indian households continue to corrode as the white powder increasingly holds a stronger grip over Prakash and thousands like him.

Swara Jayaram, an art-based therapy practitioner,suggests that it is when the society ignores the reasons that led to the addiction that the addict isolates him/herself from his own families and destroys his/her life and the lives of so many others around.

Early intervention plays a key role in preventing loss of more lives. Blaming the patient furthermore pushes him/her away from seeking help, continuing to put his/her life at risk along with the lives of the patient¡¯s family members.

¡°What we fail to understand is that addicts need attention and love from their family and friends. Until they don¡¯t make conscious connections with their loved ones, or a hobby,or anything that they strongly believe in,it is nearly impossible to bring them out of their addiction,¡± says Swara.

reuters/representational image

Unfortunately, despite all efforts at creating awareness in the society about this mental ailment,addiction,even today,is stigmatized and looked down upon.

It took years for Priti (name changed on request), a resident of East Delhi,to realise that her addiction wasn¡¯t incurable and seeking help from a doctor wasn¡¯t anything to be ashamed of.

¡°I struggled alone for so many years,trying to give up drugs. But the process became so much easier after I sought help.I have been clean for the past two years now, but I still attend the self-help group sessions to help out other addicts. If I can fight this,anyone can,¡±says Priti.

A recent report released by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, titled, ¡®National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India,¡¯ recognises alcohol as the most consumed psychoactive drug in India.

The survey conducted by NDDTC, AIIMS observed that only one in 38 people who report alcohol dependence are getting any treatment and only one in 180 people who report alcohol dependence are hospitalised to address their addiction.

The gap between the patient and medical assistance continues to widen as the patient shuts him/herself away from the societal pressure. This not only affects the substance abuser but also ruins families altogether.

¡°It isn't easy for the family,there is a lot of caregiver burden. The family has to face social implications, bare cost of drugs that are being procured by the addict as well as the cost of treatment. This affects the entire family and often many members land up in depression,¡± says Dr.Varsha Mahadik, Senior Psychiatrist at Juvenile Deaddiction Centre, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital,Delhi.

Dr. Varsha stresses on the need to include therapy not just for the addict but also for the family members.

Besides seeding emotional strains and mental drain outs in the families, drug abuse causes huge financial burdens as well.

reuters/representational image

¡°I have seen cases where the addict is the sole breadwinner in the family and the money originally allocated for the household, gets squandered on drugs. One of my patients spent close to 20 lakhs in procurement of illicit drugs, leaving his family members incapable of sustaining themselves,¡± says Dr. Jateen Ukrani, Consultant Psychiatrist at the PsyCare Neuropsychiatry Centre, New Delhi.

Shivam (name changed on request), a 22-year old media student and a resident of Noida,has very clear memories of his father whom he lost to cancer. The memories,aren¡¯t of a happy childhood as he recollects how his father valued his drink more than he ever valued him or his mother. While his sisters were sent to boarding school, Shivam was the one who witnessed the gradual but severe decline of his father¡¯s health and his will to fight back.

¡°Underlying his addiction was the fact that he was severely depressed and his refusal to get treatment just worsened the situation.Alcohol became an escape for him and I know this wasn¡¯t his fault but that left me with only one and a half parents because my father was barely there to support me,¡± says Shivam.

Shivam struggles with the memories of his father even today whenever someone close to him drinks,fearing for their families.He hopes that someday,he¡¯ll finally be able to look at alcohol as any normal person and not associate it with something immoral.

"Alcohol consumed my father as much he consumed it

And it is consuming me as much as I don¡¯t consume it.

He loved a drink and it killed him.

I hate a drink and it¡¯s killing me.

But this fight against alcohol I will continue

Because in my own sick, twisted, deranged way

I am a victor."

(Excerpt from a poem Shivam wrote on alcoholism that took his father away from him.)

The writer is a New Delhi-based freelance contributor.