FEW SEEKING HELP AS DRUG ABUSE SWEEPS INDIA: STUDY

NEW DELHI -- India has 62.5 million people dependent on alcohol
and twice the global average of opiate addicts, and most of those
who need help never seek it, a study said Friday. Countering myths
that India's drug problem is an exclusively urban problem, the joint
study by the Indian government and United Nations found that 52
percent of people with drug problems lived in rural areas.

Sixteen percent of drug users were illiterate and more than 97
percent of them were men.

"Most of the substance users have not sought help or thought
about seeking help for their dependency," Minister for Social
Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar said.

"Drug abuse is seen as a ubiquitous phenomenon and not an urban
phenomenon alone," she said.

The survey, which was taken of 40,697 people across the country,
said two million Indians were addicted to opiates such as heroin --
a rate twice the global average -- and 8.7 million to cannabis.

But it said alcohol remained the biggest problem, with 62.5 million
people unhealthily dependent on drink.

About a quarter of the people with problems used multiple drugs,
the study said.

Very few drug users were even comtemplating treatment, with a
mere two percent of alcohol abusers seeking help, it said.

Kumar said the solution lay in "building awareness and educating
people" about the effects of drugs.

She said the government ran 450 counselling and treatment
centres across India, which has a population of more than one
billion.

But Kumar said the government hoped that more voluntary
organisations would train workers on treat people for drug
dependency.

"We will step up efforts to reduce growing use of drug," she said.

The report said the most common reasons for Indians turning to
drugs were "curiosity, experimentation, being in company of drug
users and to experience the effects."

"By and large, the reasons were similar regardless of the substance
being used."

The survey also looked at sexual habits of Indians and found that
while only 0.5 percent said they had slept with a prostitute, 38
percent of those who did failed to use a condom.

About 3.8 to 4.6 million people are estimated to be HIV positive in
India, according to a World Health Organisation estimate, more
than any country except South Africa. AFP