Ganja addiction cases increase in twin cities

Hubballi: The consumption of weed or cannabis has become a trend in the twin cities and surrounding districts. At least one person visits the psychiatry department at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences every alternate day seeking help to counter addiction to weed or ganja.
Psychiatrists claim that the situation is alarming in the twin cities, adding that it can worsen if police do not crack down on drug peddlers.

At a recent meeting, home minister M B Patil had expressed concern over the growing trend of weed addiction, especially among youths. He also instructed police to strictly crackdown on ganja peddlers and told them to adopt measures taken by Mangaluru police, who have successfully curbed the menace there.

Dr Shivanand Hiremath, a psychiatrist who recently started his practice, said he treats around 8-10 persons addicted to weed every month, adding that some senior psychiatrists treat 30-40 patients a month.

Sharing an example he said, “Recently a-21-year old girl studying in a reputed college was brought to my clinic. He parents said that she was behaving strangely. I used a urine drug screening kit and deduced that she was consuming cannabis. Her parents said she was behaving differently for two days. It was due to the fact that she had not consumed weed in that period. She is now on the way towards complete de-addiction. During consultation, she said her friends in college used to share the drug with her.”

The twin cities have around 30 psychiatrists. On an average, a psychiatrist counsels around 10 new weed addicts per month. Some senior psychiatrists counsel around 35 addicts per month.

There are examples of a psychiatrist treating around 50 patients per month and a majority of them are from Hubballi-Dharwad. Every month over 20 weed addicts meet psychiatrists at KIMS. The number is slightly higher at Dharwad Institute of Medical Sciences (DIMHANS), said a doctor.

While these numbers indicate the drug menace increasing in the twin cities, police have registered only 50 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances ACT in the past seven years.

DIMHANS director Dr Mahesh Desai said, “In the last one-decade consumption of ganja or weed is rising in an alarming way. PU and degree students become addicts because of the search of pleasure or peer pressure. The definition of entertainment has changed. Youths may indulge in ganja to try out new things or out of frustration and somehow fall to this labyrinth.”