Vadodara youth on high, 38% addicted to liquor

VADODARA: There’s a wry twist to Gujarat’s ‘dry’ status, especially after a study finds that 38% youth from state’s Sanskaari Nagari are booze lovers. The study conducted by a masters of social work student of M S University has also revealed the alarming data that alcoholism is mostly prevalent between the ages of 18 to 29 years.

The study titled ‘substance abuse among youth of Vadodara city’ was carried out on 90 respondents by Rajat Saroha under the guidance of professor Bhavna Mehta.The study covered three different substance – tobacco, marijuana and alcohol – to find out substance abuse habits among youth of Vadodara, awareness related to harmful effects and laws related to smoking and alcohol consumption.
“Under our study, 38 % youth are current consumers of alcohol, which is more than 1/3rd of the youth population under study,” the report states. “It was found that only 36% of the respondents never consumed alcohol. The serious concern here is that 64% of the youth population is either currently consuming alcohol (38%) or have consumed it in the past (27%),” the report elaborates.
The study further reveals that although consumption and sale of marijuana is banned in the country, 12% of the youth under study are currently consuming marijuana.“The number may look insignificant, but cannot be ignored as this has the potential to rise in the future,” said Saroha, who had carried out the study as part of his dissertation.
Data further shows 28% of city’s youth are currently consuming tobacco (those who consumed tobacco in last one month during the course of the study were considered as current consumers). “We also found that 11 % was such who consumed tobacco in the last year but stopped using,” said Saroha.
While highlighting the epidemic of substance abuse among youth, the study states that changing cultural values, increasing economic stress and dwindling supportive bonds are leading to initiation into substance use. “There is a need to collect nationwide data on the use of different forms of tobacco by children and adolescents, and the factors leading to initiation of such harmful habits,” the study recommends.
“Also, the government should implement a supply reduction approach and promote healthy lifestyle,” it further states.