Comprehensive Survey on Substance Abuse in Guwahati - Trends, Magnitude and Gaps

Abstract

Drug Addiction, substance abuse or chemical dependency, different terms for an extremely complex social malady which stealthily creeps into homes and communities breaking down relationships, values, finances, hope and faith, dignity and self-respect. In 1972, the then Assamese weekly news-magazine Nilachal had carried banner headlines of drug addiction discovered in elite Shillong boarding schools. There were a few kids trying out ganja, they were a rarity. Even other traditional drugs like alcohol and opium were restricted in use and abused by few. Fast forward to 2010. Substance abuse has become all pervasive, spreading in the last two decades to the remotest rural town of the valley state, already beleaguered by a plethora of other social problems, be they economic, social or political. Perhaps each threat was helping the other contribute toward the overall degeneration, decadence and corruption in the communities living in this beautiful state, in the throes of too rapid a transition from a rural agrarian economy to globalization.

Keywords: Drugs, addiction, abuse, rehabilitation