Drugs not just in B’wood
There’s more to drug talk than the current Bollywood finger-pointing. According to a study commissioned by the social justice and empowerment ministry in 2019, 31 million people in India were reported to have consumed a cannabis product in the past year, of which 13 million had used weed and hash
The spotlight on Bollywood and its love for drugs has been growing ever since the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput opened the Pandora’s Box! However, the truth is that not only those in Bollywood but also people from all walks of life — including techies, party goers, sports persons, students and gym freaks — have been hooked on several narcotic substances, including marijuana, hash and opium.
Dr Siva Harsha Yedlapati, Internist and Addiction Medicine Specialist says, “Easy availability of the substance, peer pressure, adding to one’s ‘cool factor’, experimenting... are some of the causes for the youth to use drugs.” “Then, the myth ‘everybody is using drugs’ becomes a justification for more youngsters to try it so that they can fit in or feel ‘accepted’. Working young adults use increased stressors at work or in personal and social life as a reason to turn to drugs. Drugs block all sensations, especially the undesirable ones, and serve as mood elevators and help relieve or forget stress temporarily,” he explains.
Bharani Kumar Aroll, who is the president of the Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA), agrees that drugs have always been a menace in society. “Some professionals in certain industries may get into drug addiction for various reasons including wrong social acquaintances and peer pressure around the ‘happening’ parties and glamevents,” add Bharani Kumar. “So, in many cases, the addiction may not entirely be because of professional/occupational demands and stress but because of social habituations.”