The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Alcoholism is not gender specific, says survey

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 23, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Alcoholism is not gender specific, says survey

By Agnieszka Hindley

BANGALORE, APRIL 22. For the past 12 years, Lakshmi (32), a mother of three, has lived in fear of domestic violence and economic hardship, both the result of her husband's chronic drinking habit.

Lakshmi breaks down as she tells her story: "I am scared to leave the children alone with him because of his violent behaviour. He even takes the soap and cosmetics that I buy for the children to sell for money to buy alcohol. I work as a maid in four households just to make ends meet."

Lakshmi's daily ordeals are not uncommon. According to a recent study of 200 slum households in Koramangala carried out by the Community Health Cell, 70 per cent of men drink and 20 per cent of these are alcoholics. The problem is not gender specific, the survey found five per cent of women drank regularly. Of these women, 60 per cent were alcoholics.

The Coordinator, Community Health Cell, Thelma Narayan, said, "90 per cent of slum alcoholics say that they drink to forget their worries, usually related to unemployment or relief from body pain from hard, physical labour. Alcoholics can spend between Rs. 100 and Rs. 150 a day on alcohol which represents as much as 70 per cent to 90 per cent of their earnings."

According to S.J. Chander of the Community Health Cell Research and Training, addiction is prevalent because alcohol is made readily available in slum areas.

The Health Cell says it has discovered one arrack shop in Ragigudda that organised door-to-door delivery of alcohol every morning. The selling of cheap liquor, particularly arrack, in slum areas is a grey area of government control and regulation. At present, 40 per cent of the alcohol consumed in the State is undocumented. Vivek Benegal, a member of staff at the NIMHANS de-addiction centre, said, "Alcohol sales burgeon because licences tend to be shifted from one venue to another."

Arrack licences are auctioned in an annual government tender for specific areas. The Excise Commissioner, D. Sathyamurthy, said, "In reality, arrack sales tend to be informally organised and have much potential for corruption, rivalry and goonda control. Occasional raids are conducted, but we often cannot make out who the real criminals are because when the inspectors are around everyone is on their best behaviour."

Mr. Chander said, "Temperance movements are aggressively suppressed by arrack retailers. When a women's group shut down an arrack shop in Kollegal taluk, Chamarajnagar district, goondas, hired by the shop owner, assaulted them. The group was broken up and the store was re-opened."

If alcohol is difficult for the poor to avoid then alcoholism proves positively inescapable.

According to Dr. Narayan, rehabilitation centre fees act as a barrier to the poor. She said, "Government-funded centres subsidise treatment for those living below the poverty line, but the homes of poor alcoholics are often in too much disarray to produce their green cards which are necessary to gain concessions."

Even for those who can afford treatment, complete rehabilitation remains an elusive goal. Most de-addiction centres report a complete cure success rate of only five per cent.

Prothima Murthy of the NIMHANS de-addiction centre added, "Rigid follow-up treatment keeps former addicts off alcohol for longer. Ultimately, cure is dependent on the strongest will of the alcoholics themselves."

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