A study on drug abuse among residents of northeast Delhi’s Seemapuri has revealed that at least 80% of the children surveyed in the slum are addicts.
The Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM) that conducted the study following an order by the Juvenile Justice Board found that children as young as seven started abusing drugs in this rural locality.
The study was ordered after six cases of juveniles addicted to drugs indulging in crime were registered in Seemapuri. It points out that most of the parents knew that their children were consuming drugs. But they were either helpless or unperturbed by the problem. The residents of the neighbourhood are mostly addicted to ganja (marijuana), smack (heroin), beer or tobacco.
The findings of the study underlined some of the common factors that often led to addiction – peer pressure, family history, involvement in jobs like rag picking and segregation and easy accessibility.
“A small corner of the city throw up such numbers. There is an immediate need for a study for the entire city to know the extent of drug use. In the national capital, children are easily accessing drug and abusing them,” said Shibendu Bhattacharjee, programme manager of SPYM.
