Inhalants most common drug among street children: AIIMS

| | NEW DELHI
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Inhalants most common drug among street children: AIIMS

Wednesday, 10 October 2018 | Staff Reporter | NEW DELHI

Inhalants are coming out to be the most common form of drug amongst street children. In some cases, medicines, especially sleeping tablets and painkillers are also used by the children, experts from All India Institute of Medical Science said.

“Among street children, we have seen abuse of inhalants while in other cases, tobacco is being used. So, these are the entry level drugs that we see,” said Dr RK Chadda, Chief, National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), AIIMS. In school children, the use of ink removers or whiteners is quite common, he added.

Prof Anju Dhawn, NDDTC, said, “Apart from inhalants, the use of injections is also common among them, however, this use is even more in adults.”The inhalants can lead to neurological disorder in children.  It also affects the memory besides affecting organs like kidneys, she added.

Talking about the ill effects of the drugs, she said, “Also, we generally see that adolescents generally don’t get addicted to alcohol but when they drink, they have a tendency to drink more due to which they can sometimes harm themselves.”

She further said that the use of injections sometimes lead to HIV infection.  “Use of smack injections irrespective of age can lead to HIV infections. Apart from that, these addictions most of the times take a violent turn. It can also lead to depression and anxiety,” she said.

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