Background:
Sikkim is emerging as an
important area for prescription opioid abuse with frequent news of seizures and
arrests due to possession of prescription opioids. However, till date there is
a little information on descriptive epidemiology and high risk behavior of
prescription opioid abusers from Sikkim.
Aims:
The aim was to describe
demographic (age, sex, religion, marital status, community, occupation, etc.);
socioeconomic (income, education, family information etc.); and high risk
behavior (e.g., injection sharing, visit to commercial sex workers [CSWs],
homosexuality etc.) among treatment-seeking prescription opioid abusers in
Sikkim.
Materials and Methods:
Epidemiological data
were collected by administering predevised questionnaires from n = 223 prescription opioid abusers
(main problem prescription opioids) reporting for treatment at five different
drug abuse treatment centers across Sikkim.
Results:
The mean age of
prescription opioid abusers in Sikkim was 27 years; all were male, of Nepalese
ethnicity and single/never married, school dropout and/or illiterate, earning
< Rs. 10,000/month with most spending almost Rs. 5000 a month on
prescription opioids. Most (57.4%) prescription opioid abusers belonged to the
urban community. Commonly abused prescription opioids were dextropropoxyphene
and codeine. Injection sharing was more in urban areas whereas syringe exchange
was observed equally among rural and urban prescription opioid abusers. Among
urban injectors visits to CSWs, and multiple sex partners were also common in
spite of knowledge about AIDS. Limited condom use was observed among rural
respondents. Incidences of arrests, public intoxication, and violence under the
influence of prescription opioids were also reported.
Conclusion:
Both the rural and urban
areas of Sikkim show increasing rates of prescription opioid abuse among males.
It is more prevalent among school dropouts and unemployed youth. Trends of
injection drug use, unsafe injection, high risk behavior have also been
observed.
Below: Socioeconomic profile of prescription opioid abusers
Below: Risk behavior pattern of prescription opioid abusers, past month
Full article at:
By:
Department of
Pharmacology and Psychiatry, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences,
Gangtok, Sikkim, India
1Department of Pathology, STNM Hospital,
Government of Sikkim, Gangtok, Sikkim, India
2Department of Toxicology, Regional
Occupational Health Centre (Eastern), National Institute of Occupational
Health, Indian Council of Medical Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Address for correspondence: Dr. Amit Chakrabarti, Regional Occupational
Health Centre (Eastern), National Institute of Occupational Health, Indian
Council of Medical Research, Sector V, Salt Lake, Kolkata - 700 091, West
Bengal, India. E-mail: ni.gro.rmci@ctima
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