Thiruvananthapuram: The use of heroin, sedatives and injectables were found to be virtually non-existent among children between the age of five and 18 in Kerala, but they were found to be one of the biggest users of inhalants like ink eraser fluid, petrol and glue.
This was revealed in the first-ever nationwide study on substance use among children. Alcohol and tobacco use were also found to be high among children.
The study was commissioned by National Com-mission for the Protection of Child Rights in collaboration with National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to examine the pattern, profile and correlates of substance use among Indian children. This is the first nation-wide study reaching out to a reasonably large sample of school going/out of school/street children across various cities and towns in India spanning 29 states/union territories. Use of substance among kids is due to curiosity, the study notes.
“Peer pressure and also a low perception of harm, migration, poverty and street life also adds to the menace,” it says.
The final study sample comprised 4,024 children. Of this, 119 were from Kerala and 74 per cent of children in Kerala were found to use tobacco regularly and 61 per cent addicted to alcohol.
It was the use of cannabis (bhang, charas, ganja, sulpha) that turned out to be a shocker. More than 20 percent of the boys sampled used cannabis regularly.
