Pubdate: Sat, 26 Jun 2004 Source: People's Journal (Philippines) Copyright: 2004 People's Journal Contact: http://www.journal.com.ph/contactus.asp Website: http://www.journal.com.ph/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3381 FEW SEEKING HELP AS DRUG ABUSE SWEEPS INDIA: STUDY NEW DELHI -- India has 62.5 million people dependent on alcohol and twice the global average of opiate addicts, and most of those who need help never seek it, a study said Friday. Countering myths that India's drug problem is an exclusively urban problem, the joint study by the Indian government and United Nations found that 52 percent of people with drug problems lived in rural areas. Sixteen percent of drug users were illiterate and more than 97 percent of them were men. "Most of the substance users have not sought help or thought about seeking help for their dependency," Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar said. "Drug abuse is seen as a ubiquitous phenomenon and not an urban phenomenon alone," she said. The survey, which was taken of 40,697 people across the country, said two million Indians were addicted to opiates such as heroin -- a rate twice the global average -- and 8.7 million to cannabis. But it said alcohol remained the biggest problem, with 62.5 million people unhealthily dependent on drink. About a quarter of the people with problems used multiple drugs, the study said. Very few drug users were even comtemplating treatment, with a mere two percent of alcohol abusers seeking help, it said. Kumar said the solution lay in "building awareness and educating people" about the effects of drugs. She said the government ran 450 counselling and treatment centres across India, which has a population of more than one billion. But Kumar said the government hoped that more voluntary organisations would train workers on treat people for drug dependency. "We will step up efforts to reduce growing use of drug," she said. The report said the most common reasons for Indians turning to drugs were "curiosity, experimentation, being in company of drug users and to experience the effects." "By and large, the reasons were similar regardless of the substance being used." The survey also looked at sexual habits of Indians and found that while only 0.5 percent said they had slept with a prostitute, 38 percent of those who did failed to use a condom. About 3.8 to 4.6 million people are estimated to be HIV positive in India, according to a World Health Organisation estimate, more than any country except South Africa. AFP - --- MAP posted-by: Josh