The Works

| 2005 |

Education, wedlock fail to take women off booze

If you think educated and married women in Goa are less prone to drug abuse, you could be wrong. That education and marriage fail to insulate women from alcoholism in the State, has been revealed in a recent national survey on ‘Extent, Pattern and Trends of Drug Abuse in India’, brought out by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. According to data obtained by two separate surveys in 14 urban sites in Goa and major cities in the country, 371 (around 8%) of the 4,648  drug users  interviewed  were  women.

Of these, 76 women drug users were from Goa. The surveys also found that 25% of the women subjects in Goa were married and that, about 37% of them were graduates.

Data from these 14 sites showed that most women drug abusers were young adults, upto the age of 30 years and had been initiated into the process at roughly the age of 20 years by their friends, husbands and sexual partners.

Alcohol abuse (60-90%) was found to be the most common among women drug users, followed by cannabis and heroin.

“Alcohol is socially accepted in Goa. However, there is a hairline difference between social drinking and alcoholism. Once addicted, drinking rapidly transforms from luxury to necessity,” explains Pamela D’Costa, who has been counselling women drug users for the past 15 years at Kripa Foundation (KF), a drug rehabilitation centre at Anjuna.

“Most women addicts consume alcohol inside the confines of their house, simply because it lowers their image if they are seen at bars,” Ms D’Costa
adds.

According to her, alcohol consumption among women is much more than men, as their body tolerance is higher than that of their male counterparts.

“In fact, alcoholism among women has wider ramifications, as the entire family is affected. Performance in children is adversely affected and they tend to be introvert,” says Ms D’Costa.

If identifying women drug abusers is a challenge, treating them involves a greater effort.

“Men are rarely supportive if their alcoholic wives go in for treatment. They are ashamed and therefore reluctant to send their wives to the three-month treatment programme. In fact, we have to counsel men even before attending to their alcoholic wives,” says Ms D’Costa.

Moreover, marked differences between male and female addicts compel KF workers to adopt different methods to arrest drug abuse among women addicts.

“Male addicts are more receptive to treatment, as women addicts are reluctant to attend Councelling sessions or meetings. In fact, many women addicts simply deny being addicted to alcohol,” according to KF medical
director Dr Otilia Mascarenhas.

As such, recovery period for women alcoholics is far longer than men alcoholics as women are more likely to resist the initial part of detox
programmes.

Besides alcohol, other drugs are also abused by women from different strata in Goan society.

“Gutkha is a more prevalent drug among lower class women, while upper
class women are found consuming hashish. In fact, women addicts find it easier to give up alcohol than gutkha, since gutkha does not smell and yet, it gives a ‘kick’,” says Ms D’Costa.

According to Dr Mascarenhas, drug addiction among women is unfortunately not taken as seriously as it should be. “Drug usage among the labour class and lamanis is on the rise.”

“These patients are identified at government drug detoxification centres at Hospicio (Margao), IPHB (Bambolim) and Asilo (Mapusa),” Dr Mascarenhas adds.

Incidentally, KF officials have found a pattern of alcohol usage between the younger and older women addicts in the State.

“Most young girls addicted to alcohol are found in city colleges. They generally prefer alcoholic beverages such as rum, vodka or cocktails such as Bacardi Breezer, while older women addicts generally opt for whisky, brandy, feni or urrack,” explains Ms D’Costa.

Adds Dr Mascarenhas: “Unfortunately, with newer coctails arriving in
the market, alcohol abuse among young women is only going to escalate.”

Since many of these young women addicts take to alcohol during school itself, KF workers have been conducting extensive awareness programmes in schools and colleges.

But if alcohol abuse is itself cause for concern, even more alarming for KF workers is the growing trend among younger women to mix alcohol with benzodiazepine drugs (sleeping pills).

“College girls addicted to alcohol have been frequently seen popping drugs, such as Nitravet or Alprazolan, along with alcohol. This gives them a ‘kick’ very fast. But they don’t realise that overdose of such drugs can be fatal,” explains Dr Mascarenhas.

While both young and old women alcoholics rarely come to KF on their own and are brought in by relatives and well-wishers, KF officials have found out that young women addicts tend to be more aggressive than their older women counterparts.

“It is difficult to treat young women addicts during the first month of the detox programme,” says Dr Mascarenhas.

At the end of the day, KF officials insist that while they will address the problem of drug abuse among women in the State, the treatment will eventually depend on the attitude of women drug abusers.

“Women alcohol addicts should first realise and accept that they have a disease that cannot be cured, but can be arrested,” points out KF manager Domnic Rebello.

“Secondly, the best solution is for women addicts to avoid alcohol, attend Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) meetings and to have regular contact with AA members,” Mr Rebello adds.

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