PROBLEM WITH DRUGS OR ALCOHOL?

PROBLEM WITH DRUGS OR ALCOHOL?

SOURCE : alcoholrehab.com

Drug Addiction & Alcoholism Symptoms

Problems with alcohol and drugs come in many forms, but there are many different signs of alcoholism and drug addiction. Below is an alcoholism and drug addiction test which indicates various symptoms of alcoholism, alcohol dependence and drug addiction.

Alcoholics and Drug Addicts in the Family

If you believe your husband, wife or significant other is having a problem with alcohol or drugs this test can be used to help you understand better if that is in fact the case. Just fill it out with the best information you have. Just remember this is not a medical evaluation. It is just a baseline to go by and get people thinking about if in fact they do need help.

This test is not intended to be used for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical or emotional condition. We advise consulting a doctor about any concerns you may have regarding this questionnaire.

The purpose of this survey is to give you some insight into whether or not you or someone you know may have a problem with drugs or alcohol.

Most of the questions below can be considered a warning sign that someone is having alcohol or drug abuse issues. If you see just a couple of these signs in a person, take it seriously; they could be experiencing a life threatening condition and need to seek help.

Drug & Alcohol Problem Questionnaire

Warning Signs of Alcoholism or Drug Addiction

1.            Do you lose time from work due to your drinking or drug use?

2.            Is your drinking or drug use making your home life unhappy?

3.            Do you drink or use drugs because you are shy with other people?

1.            Is drinking or drug use affecting your reputation?

2.            Have you ever felt remorse after drinking or drug use?

3.            Have you got into financial difficulties because of your drinking or drug use?

4.            Do you turn to lower companions and inferior environment when drinking or using drugs?

5.            Does your drinking or drug use make you careless of your families welfare?

6.            Has your ambition decreased since drinking or drug use?

7.            Do you crave a drink or drugs at a definite time daily?

8.            Do you want a drink or drugs the next morning?

9.            Does drinking or drug use cause you difficulty in sleeping?

10.          Has your efficiency decreased since drinking or drug use?

11.          Is drinking or drug use jeopardising your job or business?

12.          Do you drink or use drugs to escape from worries or troubles?

13.          Do you drink or use drugs alone?

14.          Have you ever had a complete loss of memory as a result of drinking or drug use?

15.          Has your physician ever treated you for drinking or drug use?

16.          Do you drink or use drugs to build up your self-confidence?

17.          Have you ever been in a hospital or institution as a result of drinking or drug use?

Drug & Alcohol Problem Evaluation

•             If you or someone you know answered YES to any three of the questions, there is a definite warning that there may be a problem.

•             If you or someone you know answered YES to any four of these questions, the chances are that there is a problem.

•             If you or someone you know answered YES to five or more of these questions, most likely there is a problem.

If your children are having a problem with alcohol or drugs, this is always a concern and needs to be taken seriously. Nobody wants to watch their children fight an addiction. However, help is available, and many times the best gift you can give your son or daughter is an opportunity at a life of sobriety.

We regularly get calls from people who are concerned about their mother or father drinking or using. Approaching them about the issue can be very difficult, as they are supposed to be the role models; and in a situation like this, the roles have to change in order to do what is best for them and get them the drug and alcohol treatment they need.

Drug & Alcohol Abuse by your Friends

This questions above can also be used for to help identify friends and acquaintances who are struggling with drug and alcohol abuse. We can help discuss with you the best way to proceed about getting them to seek the life saving help they may need.

Drug Use and Alcoholism in the Workplace

Studies show that drug addiction and alcoholism in the workplace costs companies immense amounts of money in lost productivity and medical premiums. Many times it is much better for corporate responsibility and the expense of recruitment and replacement of an employee to treat them rather than dismiss them.

Image taken from targetyouth.ca

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Indian Ad film on Drugs Abuse

Indian Ad film on Drugs Abuse

Posted by prashant singh on YOUTUBE

A short on Drugs. Directed by Rajat Nagpal and produced for National Institute of Design. It is his first film. Won the best film at Kyoto International FIlm Festival, Satyajit Ray Film Festival and has been selected by over 10 other film festivals.

Alcohol use on the rise in India

SOURCE : http://www.lancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)61939-X/fulltext

Images taken fromwww.turnbacktogod.com & dosomething.org

Alcohol use on the rise in India

Raekha Prasad

With more than half of all alcohol drinkers in India falling into the criteria for hazardous drinking, alcohol abuse is emerging as a major public-health problem in the country. Raekha Prasad reports.

India’s reputation as a country with a culture of abstinence especially in matters regarding alcohol is underserved, say experts. The country, which has seen a rapid proliferation of city bars and nightclubs in recent years, is fast shedding its inhibitions about alcohol as a lifestyle choice.

This situation has led to fears of an undocumented rise in alcohol abuse not only among poorer classes but also in sections of society that were previously considered dry. The health minister has recognised the scale of the problem—and has called for a policy that will regulate sales and the pricing of drink.

Many experts say that although this move is welcome it may not be enough to curb the harmful effects of the rise in alcohol consumption in society. The increasing production, distribution, and promotion of alcohol has already seen drink-related problems emerging as a major public-health concern in India.

Sales of alcohol have seen a growth rate of 8% in the past 3 years. Officially, Indians are still among the world’s lowest consumers of alcohol—government statistics show only 21% of adult men and around 2% of women drink. But up to a fifth of this group—about 14 million people—are dependent drinkers requiring “help”.

The concern, say experts, is that there has been a rapid change in patterns and trends of alcohol use in India. Chief among them is people are beginning to drink at ever-younger ages. The percentage of the drinking population aged under 21 years has increased from 2% to more than 14% in the past 15 years, according to studies in the southern state of Kerala by Alcohol and Drugs Information Centre India, a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Alarmingly, the study found that the “average age of initiation” had dropped from 19 years to 13 years in the past two decades.

The centre points out that a “powerful international and domestic alcohol lobby” is purposely targeting young Indians. The local industry has introduced flavoured alcohol drinks to attract previously non-drinking women and young men. Multinational companies have identified India with its vast unexploited markets as one of the world’s most sought after places for investment.

Many alcohol adverts now feature spirited groups of young people having a good time. Although alcohol advertising is banned in the electronic and print media, surrogate advertising is rife, argues Monika Arora, director of the NGO, Health Related Information

Dissemination Amongst Youth Student Health Action Network. “Drinking water and apple juice is packaged by alcohol companies. It’s all about getting young people to start early and be life-long consumers. Bollywood films now glorify alcohol where the good guys drink.”

The shifting composition of Indian drinkers has seen a rise in the number of Indian women drinking regularly and heavily. One recent study in the southern state of Karnataka found young women consumed similar amounts of alcohol to young men on any typical drinking occasion.

What is of particular concern—and an important indicator of health risks—is that the signature pattern of alcohol consumption in India is frequent and heavy drinking. More than half of all drinkers fall into the criteria for hazardous drinking, which is characterised by bingeing and solitary consumption to the point of intoxication. Moreover, spirits account for 95% of the beverages drunk in India.

Another problem for policy makers is the fact that two-thirds of the alcohol drunk in India is unrecorded because it is either illicit local home-brew or has been smuggled into the country. Employers in poor, marginalised communities sometimes pay wages in alcohol rather than cash, according to WHO. The hazards of spurious liquor can be fatal, with frequent reports of death, disability, and hospitalisation resulting from its consumption across the country.

One barrier to developing a national alcohol policy for India, experts say, is the woeful lack of data and research on its national health, social, and economic effect. What is known is that alcohol-related problems account for more than a fifth of hospital admissions; 18% of psychiatric emergencies; more than 20% of all brain injuries and 60% of all injuries reporting to India’s emergency rooms. The role of alcohol in domestic violence is substantial: a third of violent husbands drink, according to a WHO study in 2004. Most of the violence took place during intoxication.

There is evidence even to suggest that the poor are beginning to drink more than they earn—a deadly spiral of alcohol and debt. One recent study by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in households of rural, urban, town, and slum populations of 28 500 people in and around the city of Bangalore, Karnataka, found that the average monthly expenditure on alcohol of patients with alcohol addiction is more than the average monthly salary.

Although the Indian constitution includes the prohibition of alcohol among its directive principles, alcohol policy is devolved to individual states—as is the levying of taxes on it. Since most states derive around a fifth of their revenue from alcohol taxation—the second largest source after sales tax—they are generally ambivalent towards stemming its flow. Moreover, there is a long history in India of a powerful alcohol lobby with industry figures influencing the political process, both in the form of party donations and as representatives. But experts argue that Indian society is losing considerably more than it gains. “Because of the political expediency surrounding prohibition, what is not being looked at is demand reduction strategies”, says Vivek Benegal, one of the authors of the report and assistant professor of psychiatry at NIMHANS.

Using their findings in the Bangalore study, researchers from NIMHANS have calculated that the direct and indirect costs attributable to alcohol addiction is more than triple the profits of alcohol taxation and several times more than the annual health budget of Karnataka. Extrapolating their findings to the whole of India they estimate the total alcohol revenue for 2003—04 of 216 billion rupees falls 28 billion rupees short of the total cost of managing the effects of alcohol addiction. These included the tangible costs of health care, occupational, financial, social, and legal factors.

The official response to India’s problem remains focused on those in acute need rather than on prevention. This situation means that official policy concentrates on just the 4% of the alcohol-dependent adult male population—and ignores the 20% of the population who are “at risk” of serious alcohol abuse.

Experts argue that government thinking on how best to mitigate the risks for alcohol are 20 years behind that of tobacco. Under its National Drug De-addiction Programme, the Government of India has funded 483 detoxification and 90 counselling centres. Almost half of attendees are being treated for alcohol dependency.

But the success of the programmes is low and states fail to adequately fund them, health professionals say. Doctors working with addicts in government hospitals report a “complete lack” of non-pharmacological care and training. “Once we’ve treated them there’s no social worker or clinical psychologist to refer them to so we just send them to AA (Alcoholics Anonymous)”, says Smita Deshpande, a senior psychiatrist working in a Delhi state hospital.

The problem is that the treatment of alcoholism is a low priority in Indian’s health sector, says Rajat Ray, professor and chief of the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre at All India Institute of Medical Sciences. (AIIMS). Just 600 doctors have been trained to treat alcohol abuse in the past decade. “It’s seen as deviant behaviour among most doctors: a hopeless situation that is unrewarding to treat and so there’s no motivation or financial incentive on doctors to work in this field”, Ray says.

To address this, the Indian Government has set a target to train, via AIIMS, 1000 doctors, as many paramedics, and 500 nurses to specialise in alcohol-abuse treatment in the next 4 years. Once trained, the plan is to deploy them across India’s 560 district hospitals to increase access to treatment. Ray and his team are currently piloting three district training projects in Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh.

There is, however, a growing lobby urging the health ministry to act. Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance, an NGO aiming to prevent alcohol-related harm through evidence-based policy intervention, says that the key is to break the stranglehold of state revenue departments who see increasing consumption of alcohol as a boon to treasury coffers.

It is pressing the ministry of health, headed by a minister who has advocated prohibition in certain states, to take a lead in passing a law that privileges public health over tax receipts. The lack of a national alcohol policy creates “a very difficult situation” for health professionals working to tackle alcoholism, Ray says. Discussions are taking place, but an actual policy, he says, “is still in a formative state”.