Bihar not immune to drug menace

Snehil Jaiswal / TNN / Jun 9, 2006, 02:48 IST

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Not only affluent people in metros but ordinary people in Bihar too are falling prey to the drug menace.

PATNA: Rahul Mahajan was being seen as a potential political rival to Rahul Gandhi. Just days before he was about to take a plunge into politics, drugs put paid to his and BJP's hopes as well.
Not only affluent people in metros but ordinary people in Bihar too are falling prey to the drug menace. Drugs are increasingly playing havoc with the lives of many in the state.Rakhi Sharma, who works for an NGO called Disha, recalls meeting an emaciated boy from Bihar, in Delhi in 2005.
This boy fed himself by polishing shoes. "He was extremely thin, with his eyes sunk in and a face in which you could not miss out those yellow, watery eyes.
We decided to observe his habits for a few days and we were shocked. Everyday he earned around Rs 20 to 25, which he used for purchasing a new box of shoe polish. At the end of the day he was consuming whatever was left of the polish," Rakhi recalled.

Disha took about a year in taking the boy out of the clutches of death. Putting iodex on bread and having it for lunch is another kind of addiction.
Pouring petrol or diesel on cloth and inhaling it, eating shoe polish, consuming corex might sound strange and amusing. But these are the kinds of addictions that are being increasingly reported in the state capital...
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While smack addicts have watery eyes, muscular cramps and loss of time orientation, those who take cannabis, which includes ganja and bhang, have hallucinations and a tendency to repeat things, according to psychiatrist Baxi KRP Sinha.

In 2005, as many as 4,759 drug addicts came to Disha for rehabilitation or inquiries. "These cases came to us from Ara, Chapra, Siwan, Begusarai, Muzaffarpur, Sasaram, Bettiah, Raxaul, Sitamarhi, Araria and even Nepal," one of its members said.
The de-addiction and rehabilitation starts with isolating patients, administering medicines to them, providing counselling sessions by psychiatrists and making them practise yoga.
Almost 60 per cent of the cases reported last year were from the age group of 15 to 25. "Around 40 per cent fall in the age group of 25 to 35," said Kumar Deepak, secretary of Disha.
Recently, a case of a Patna-born IT professional working in Bangalore came to them. "This guy in his late twenties was addicted to corex and was taking 15 to 20 phials per day. It took him two months of counselling, medicines and yoga to kick the habit," Rakhi said.
Members of the NGO also claim they've received cases of students of reputed public schools and sound economic background getting addicted to drugs.
While around 35 per cent of drug addicts take heroin and smack, doctors here have come across numerous cases of people falling prey to ganja, charas, bhang, injections and inhaling drugs. "Fortwin, catamin, phenargun, pathadin and morphine are commonly taken as injections," said Rakhi.
Inhaling dendrite and consumption of proxyvon tablets are what many young rag-pickers prefer. Sabzibagh, Patna City, Khajpura, Mithapur bridge are some of the areas where transactions of drugs take place.
Patna DM B Rajinder said that the administration is working with NGOs to give them a legal basis for functioning.
"Whenever we receive complaints we conduct raids and take action," he said.

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