With increasing numbers in the country going for drugs, concerns are rising on how to irradicate the problem
Kamala Rai THIMPHU.
The drug abuse scenario in the country seems to be more serious than thought, with a 14-dzongkhag survey showing cannabis use rampant in all of them, and abuse of pharmaceutical drugs also high in all but one surveyed district.
This emerged as the draft findings of the “National Baseline Assessment (NBA) on drugs and substance use in Bhutan for 2009”, presented at Hotel Namgay Heritage, Thimphu, yesterday.
The NBA report shows that cannabis abuse was rapid in all 14 districts and the exception to the picture of abusing pharmaceuticals was Zhemgang.
According to Dr. Samiran Panda, member of NBA, his team, consisting five members, conducted assessments on drug use in 14 dzongkhags of the country and that the dissemination of the findings of the first ever NBA of drugs and controlled substances were based in school and community settings in Bhutan.
On the community based assessments the team interviewed 1,048 drug users, but as some of the records were discarded due to data inconsistency, only 991 records were analysed.
And on the school based assessments, 10061 male and 10696 female students, who abused drugs ranging from class VII to class XII were interviewed.
The assessment was made from April to August, 2009, and the results were presented to the members of Narcotic Control Board and relevant stakeholders.
Cristina Albertin, Representative of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office of South Asia, New Delhi, said: “From our work all over the world, we know that the vulnerability to drugs and HIV is a complex social phenomenon which requires awareness building and action from all stakeholders. Drug abuse and HIV impact relationships, deplete financial resources, increase health costs for the family and the society and affects its overall productivity.”
She also added that in the larger context of marginalisation and discrimination, generally women, children and young people were the most vulnerable and that we must ensure these men, women, children and young adults find answers to questions about what HIV or substance abuse is, how they can prevent them and in case they already need treatment, where they and their families can get care and support.
The objectives of the NBA are to identify the type and extent of drug and controlled substance abuse; to characterise the drug or substance abuse pattern at the community level in Bhutan; to estimate the size of drug or substance using population in the surveyed areas; and so on.
A participant said that life skills education should be given to the teachers so that they can impart their knowledge to the students and talk freely on this serious issue of increasing drug abuse.
Another participant said that a drug based education must be established in the country.
