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Tamil Nadu
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Chennai
“Scarce availability of brown sugar and rising prices of tidigesic are some of the reasons” “Monitoring by Narcotics Control Bureau has, by and large, reduced easy availability of the drug” CHENNAI: The contention of non-governmental organisations working in the field of drug abuse is that the number of injecting drug users has come down in the State. Whether or not this claim is borne out by the fact will be known once the results of the State’s first comprehensive official mapping of injecting drug users are out by the end of July. “As people working on the field, we have strong reason to believe that less number of people are into injecting drug use,” says KNS Varadan, of Freedom Foundation. Their number has come down, and they have instead switched to several other oral drugs (prescription) or taken to smoking cannabis, he says. He cites a variety of reasons, among them the availability and cost of drugs, for the shift. Others who are involved in rehabilitation and de-addiction programmes agree with him. Sasikumar, of Chennai Injection Drug Users Association, says the scarce availability of brown sugar and the rising prices of tidigesic are some of the reasons for the decline in injecting drug use. “Today 2ml of tidigesic is available for Rs.250 or so. It is easier to buy prescription drugs, and they are cheaper too.” “Fatigue”
L.S. Venkat Kumar of Rainbow Charitable Trust, which works among injecting drug users, says there seems a fatigue with the elaborate preparation for an injection—the drug has to be procured, ‘cooked’ and then injected. It is easier to get a high with other oral drugs. Monitoring by the Narcotics Control Bureau has, by and large, reduced the easy availability of the drug, Mr. Kumar says. “Scientific basis”“There is no scientific basis for this statement. Trends observed by individual NGOs will have to be verified only by a larger study, which we have already launched,” says Supriya Sahu, project director, Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society. The State-wide study, aimed at identifying the exact number of injecting drug users, will facilitate better intervention to reduce the harm and eventually wean the users away from addition. The methodology is to gather information directly from the users about their age, how they took to the habit, sexual activity, whether or not they use protection and their marital and HIV status. “Long due”Welcoming the government’s move to map the injecting drug users on the eve of the International Day Against Drug Abuse Day, Mr. Varadan says the study, which is long due, may prove that the number is, indeed, falling.
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