Thursday, 26 August 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Men are generally considered to indulge more often in substance abuse but there has also been a considerable rise in the number of women engaging in substance abuse in the past few years in Uttarakhand. Among other factors, the gender gap is also decreasing in illicit drug use along with alcohol and tobacco consumption by women across the State. According to clinical psychologist Dr Mukul Sharma, most of the women indulging in substance abuse and consumption of other intoxicants are young and their number is constantly rising with time.
He revealed that the International Institute of Psychometric Counselling (IIPC) conducted a survey across the State in the year 2017 in which no prominent issues of women involved in substance abuse were discovered at that time. In 2018, the survey disclosed that seven per cent women in the State were using drugs and intoxicants like tobacco and alcohol and this percentage rose to 17 per cent in 2020. Out of these 17 per cent women, 1.3 per cent women were found to be peddlers too, informed Sharma. He revealed that most of the women involved in such addictions belong to the age group of late teens to mid-20s.
Experts opined that the percentage of men involved in substance abuse is still more but women involved in such addictions appear to suffer more severe consequences physically as well as psychologically. They asserted that the stigma and prejudice against women who are involved in substance abuse are worse than those faced by the men involved in it which makes the quitting process difficult for most women. “Many parents try to get their sons to recover from drug addiction and make all the possible attempts to provide them with proper counselling and other aids but the same cannot be said for women. Parents feel ashamed of such daughters and try to hide it rather than providing the proper help. They try to marry off their daughters immediately in order to maintain their image in society,” stated Sharma.
Talking about the cause of the recent hike in the number of women involved in consumption of illicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco, psychotherapist Aditi Arora said that now more women are stepping out of their homes, becoming financially independent and getting exposed to various things in society and good and bad exposure is part of the same thing. She said that today’s generation wants to escape reality due to stress and certain issues in their life by using drugs and most of the women involved in drugs are part of the same generation. Arora also stated that if there is a psychological void inside a person, he or she will be attracted to drugs and might probably use them to escape reality irrespective of their relationship with their parents.
However, she added that parental support surely helps an addict to get better. She said that the authorities should keep running regular programmes against the use of illicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco to raise awareness among the young generation in schools and colleges. “The government can run such programmes in association with some big companies under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to raise awareness with proper monitoring throughout the year,” said Arora.
