Well known for its stress free lifestyle Jharkhand is seen rushing towards drug abuse cases. More worryingly it is the youths of the State who are resorting to relatively cheaper and easily available substances such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, heroin, inhalants and even injectable sedatives.
The alarming situation has been underlined by Medical Superintendent of RINPAS who said that there are about 60 substance abuse cases admitted in the hospital out of which, more than 50 per cent comprises youth, including young girls in recent times.
“These patients admitted at the hospital are even from well-off families. The emerging trend of the State as more and more number of young children is becoming attracted to wander into the darker side of drugs and intoxicants. Insomnia, epilepsy, forgetfulness, fearfulness, drug dependency disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, schizo-affective disorder and such sums up for the majority of cases at the rehabilitation centre here,” said Dr AK Nag.
Similarly, young patients suffering from mental illnesses have been pouring in larger number at the Out-Door Patient (OPD) Centre at the Central Institute of Psychiatry recently, according to a Psychiatry student and an MBBS Doctor at the hospital. “Depression, acute depression and schizophrenia is becoming the most common mental disorder not only in the city but such cases can be seen approaching the hospital from all across the state and even from neighbouring states of Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar,” said Dr Deepak DK.
Ajab Singh from Kanke has arrived at the hospital to seek medical help for his aggressive behaviour for the past two months. “There are times when I behave normal and remember everything but there are difficult times when I go crazy and want to hit someone badly. I often get very angry and also do not understand the reason of my anger and act violent. I have been smoking cannabis for the past 14 years and have been suffering from forgetfulness for the past eight years now,” said the 26-year-old.
More number of teenagers and adolescents from Ranchi and nearby places such as Bundu, Namkom, Sonahattu, lohardaga, Tatisilwai, Silli, Dhanbad, Bokaro etc are reportedly found to be addicted to tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, inhalants in the state with 17,795 kg of cannabis seized in Jharkhand in 2011, according to the Narcotics Control Bureau’s Annual Report.
Twenty-one-year-old Prakash Yadav (name changed) was rushed to the Emergency Department of the Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS) as he was suffering from a shivering fit.
“The boy was under tremendous pressure of supporting the entire family and he has been working at a night call centre for the past couple of years along with pursuing his studies here in Ranchi. It has been three months now that he does not sleep in the nights. He is used to sniffing adhesives such as Dendrite, Fevi Quick and such for the past two years now. We hope the doctors find a solution for him because he behaves like a maniac nowadays,” said lakshmi Devi, a woman from Silli.
The nurses at the RINPAS gave him an injection to calm down his nerves and made him lie on the bed with his hands tied. Aniket Goswami (name changed), a 17-year-old boy from lohardaga has even stayed at the hospital for two months twice before under the good care and without inhaling the intoxicant and smoking cannabis.
“He goes back to sniffing adhesives and smoking the grass as soon as he can. We have already tried everything from locking him up, beating him up, dragging him here to even to the police but in vain,” said Reena, the ailing mother of the boy.
Moreover, doctors at both the Government hospitals agreed on the same fact that the state is not adequately equipped with the number of psychiatrists required to deal with the larger problem of drug and alcohol abuse cases, especially disturbing the calmer lives of the rural and urban Ranchi both.
The substance abuse goes beyond alcohol and tobacco, occasionally also involves cocaine, heroin and opium with less than 15 per cent use of heroin in the state, according to a 2012 survey by the health and family welfare ministry.