Addiction in women – Shivani Malik, a resident of Ghaziabad gets heavily drunk with four of her friends and was heading towards Gurugram when she hit a car.
This hit caused serious injuries and death in the victim’s family. The accused is just 22 years old and works in a well-reputed salon in Noida. Most of the readers had different expressions because it’s a girl who is accused. Just for the fact, let me tell you that national Survey on Extent, Pattern and Trends of Drug Abuse in India” of 2001 only focussed on the males. This is a national survey even if it is 0% on the other gender, you got to include it. But, here is another fact that at the same time another survey conducted only in 14 cities found that 7.9% of women are addicted to at least one type of substance. The substance could be alcohol, heroin, cannabis and pain-killer. Let’s get into more details about the addiction among women in India-
Where is addiction in women coming from?
And the answer is the change Indian is going through right now.
For example, the roles of family members are changing which we are not used to. Previously everything was fixed like a father would be earning, the mother can only be a housewife, girl child does not get the education and married at an early age even if she gets an education, she is married without her consent. The main focus is all on the boy child who is nurtured to be the man of the house. Sorted! Right! But, now even the women do not want to be just a housewife and look up to others for her own needs.
The change started when men tried to be superior and not equal.
Everyone’s supporting the system in its own way. There were flaws that can be corrected not with a rebel but with understanding. It took so long for women to come up in front and take a stand for themselves. Now, everyone in the family has their personal and professional lives which leads to a lot of confusion because we Indian do not understand space.
Parents interfere a lot and so, adults starting to migrate and started living separately. For the women, it could be the first time she might be experiencing the freedom to sit as she likes, to roam around in the house and not just sit in one corner of the house. Finally, she can call her friends in the house and occupy the living room and not just the bedroom. Then, comes this part as well from where she was kept away. She could be attending office parties and drinking and make it a habit. She could be addicted to substances and like others, she could do mistakes. But, the thing is we don’t expect them to do this because they are born to behave and be responsible. Now, it is completely up to the girl who wants to go at which stage.
Whether she likes it or just doing it to adjust in the city life where she sees everybody else is enjoying getting drunk and profanity talk is the real thing.
Another Scenario of Addiction in women – Streets of India
India has the world’s largest population of street children and many of them are working in inhuman conditions and that too at a very early age (girls included). They, therefore are more prone to get addicted to drugs. According to the report, one out of five children in India is a drug addict. Street children, trafficked girls or boys or even the working children do drug abuse and make it a habit because of the conditions surrounding them. Nicotine is often consumed in bidis and gutkha and inhaled as well by sniffing adhesive glue, petrol, gasoline, thinner, and spirit. To understand the consumption in a psychological way, with these substances they get to leave behind the chaos of their lives and somehow manage to go ahead if they have a goal and even if not, drugs dependency is something they look out for. Now, drug abuse is spreading in all the socio-economic backgrounds regardless the awareness and education. Curiosity plays an important role here. And, this starts at the tender age of five. Other substances except Nicotine includes alcohol, Liquor, cocaine, Marijuana, Bhang, Ganja, Hashish etc. And, buying them is quite cheap, so reach is not a hinderance.
Addiction in women – Risk Factors
Women are observed to be more intoxicated than men after consuming the same amount of alcohol. Gender differences happen to be in smoking and cannabis as well but the study has been conducted only on animal species, not on humans. According to a study, the most important factor that makes women consuming substance is the friend circle and then comes stress, partner influence and tension. Girls go through many changes starting from inside their body to the outside lifestyle changes. Also, they self-harm due to depression or maybe due to her family life and if they are unable to come out of this vicious circle, they think drugs can help them. Drug abuse family or relative make a bigger impact on child’s life and sometimes they even force them to be physical and also drag them into drugs to take revenge from their parents.
A lot is happening nowadays and for all the factors stated, I think boys ratio are included equally.
When all these factors turn out real in India, it becomes a horrible dream for a girl. When you get addicted you need it anyhow and you are ready to pay anything for it. Drug dealers prey on these innocent faces and later make them sex workers, send them to brothels, or just a slave.
But, when you are an adult and know what you are doing, you are completely responsible for your own actions. Addiction in women – women are seen as a wife, loving mother and seeing them using substance affect their family and social life. Again because of the acceptance factor. On the other hand, men with substance affect only their professional life in India. If we talk about legal consequences, according to the National Survey, India, 7–20% of women substance users reported several legal problems due to drug abuse. 44% of the women in the women’s study reported a history of imprisonments due to their activities, sex work, pick-pocketing and theft charges.
There are so much more to say when it comes to focus women in India because they are just disowned if found guilty, so accepting or maybe understanding them is just too far. Parents thinking of treatment for her by understanding what lead her do this is no way a real thing in India. Or maybe they are asking too much in a country like India. And, the irony is the western place from where we are influenced so much, emphasis on the research and we do not have perfect facts to work on future alarming problems among women.
Addiction in women – Even the situation is when a woman is dragged into this darkness and once they know where they are, they don’t come out because of the acceptance fear. It is clearly an alarming situation to eliminate any kind of gender differences and work for both of them equally.
Addiction in women – The future of the country cannot be in darkness. It’s time to get aware, rise and shine.
