RISE IN INTRAVENOUS USE OF HEROIN IN NORTH EAST: SURVEY

NEW DELHI: Drug abusers in the north-east are increasingly opting for
intravenous use of heroin instead of taking it orally, which increases the
risk of AIDs infection, a survey has shown.

As water-soluble pure grade heroin is easily available in the north-east,
addicts prefer injecting the drug to get instant pleasure but "with a high
risk of HIV", the findings of the survey conducted by the All India
Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said.

Adulterated heroin available in other parts of the country is not soluble in
water.

Seventy per cent of those surveyed were found to use synthetic derivatives
of opium, more than half of whom were heroin users. Though 10-15 per cent of
drug users are Injecting Drug Users (IDUs), the practice has serious
implications like lack of control on dosage that might prove fatal, Dr.
Anita Chopra from AIIMS Department of Psychiatry said.

Besides a rise in IDUs in India, especially in the north-east, the latest
trend among urban users is "multiple drug use" wherein a combination of
various drugs, including buprenorphine, avil and phenargan is taken, he
said.

The survey was conducted on about 40,000 opiate users each in six
districts - Aizawl in Mizoram, Mandsur in Madhya Pradesh, Darjeeling in West
Bengal, Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, Thoubal in Manipur and Kohima in
Nagaland - between 1996 and 1999. Similar surveys are currently on in Goa,
Chennai and Jodhpur, Dr. Chopra added.

"The trend of drug abuse remains more or less the same everywhere except the
north-east," she said.

About two-thirds of the drug users reporting at the AIIMS De-Addiction
Centre (DAC) last year were taking heroin, whereas a mere three per cent
took raw opium. About one-fifth of them were IDUs, a third of whom shared
needles, she said.

The total number of patients reporting at AIIMS DAC had increased by about
70 per cent from 11,767 in 1994 to about 20,000 last year, she said.

Health ministry data from 32 out of the 93 DACs in the country showed about
half of those treated at the centres were dependent on opium, heroin or
other opiates.

But a high degree of variation existed in the number of IDUs across the
country, she said.

Raw opium is still popular in rural India while heroin, opiates and
pharmaceutical preparations are the favourate of urban users, the AIIMS
survey found. Raw opium is mainly used in the northen and western states
while synthetic derivatives of opium are common in south India, she said.

Another important observation was that opoid use was more in rural men in
Barabanki, a opium growing and illicit manufacturing area, and Thoubal,
through which National Highway No. 39 passes, making access to these drugs
easier. In the other four districts, use was more among urban men.