Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP) appears all worried with teens increasingly lured towards abuse of highly dangerous substances like heroin and other inhalants in the State. CIP Director D Ram said on Wednesday that the institute came across increasing number of drug abuse cases among teens in recent times added with scary cases of few of those coming from urban and metropolitan societies of the State with inhalant drug abuse.
“It is really worrisome. Teens, even from schools, are coming to us with inhalant drugs abuse, including heroin and few others. Though exact number of such kids can only be counted after we get our yearly data compiled, the fact is that metropolitan and urban society kids appear to have crossed boundaries of cigarettes and chewing tobacco and we have come across cases of kids taking drugs which are usually consumed through nose.
This means kids are being targeted through various means, better known to them only,” said Ram.
Notably, inhalants, as National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) says, ‘are volatile substances that produce chemical vapors that can be inhaled to induce a psychoactive, or mind-altering, effect’. Institute adds that the chemicals found in these products can change the way the brain works and cause other problems in the body.
A recent survey in which CIP was a partner found that treatment gap for common mental disorders and substance abuse mounted up to 75 percent in State. The survey also found that more than 13 percent of youths between 13 to 17 years of age-group from urban metros suffered from mental disorders.
“But there are so many factors behind this. It is really upsetting to have only four districts in State having district mental health programmes in place. Then, there is shortage of fund and manpower to take plans for awareness against drug abuse on corners of State. I believe willpower is also somewhere lacking,” added Ram.