Prevalence of substance abuse: a community based study

Abstract

Background: Tobacco, alcohol, and illicit substance use continue to result in substantial morbidity and mortality and significant societal economic costs despite considerable efforts to minimize use of illicit substances and prevent use of illicit substances. The objective is to estimate the prevalence of substance use and its association with socio-demographic variables. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out through house to house visits on 1341 randomly selected people of 10 years and above age group in urban area of Surendranagar city, Gujarat, India. Results: In present study, overall prevalence of substance abuse was 18.86%. The mean age of onset for drug use was 26.9 years. Proportion of substance abuse found to be greater among males (79.84%), those who were from class IV (68.37%), those who were belongs to joint families (61.67%) and who were literate (55.73%). The most common substance to be abused was tobacco (38%) followed by alcohol (34%). Females showed high prevalence for chhikni or bajjar (80.39%). Conclusions: Our study revealed that in spite of having strict legislation for prohibition of substance abuse, people are still addicted with alcohol, cannabis, drugs etc. So prohibition has done nothing more than drive liquor underground. There is a need to change either in law or in behavior of people at large.