Substance abuse among street kids

Millions of kids living in the streets forced by poverty and hunger are indulged in substance abuse, including tobacco, alcohol and cannabis. 

According to a study by AIIMS, it is suggested at about one-third of the street kids use drugs, alcohol. 

It was also found that 29 percent of street children had been peer pressured into taking drugs, while 19 per cent took them out of curiosity, 16 per cent to experience a high, 9 per cent to deal with various stresses and difficulties in life and about 6 per cent do it to withstand harsh conditions or battle starvation.

Use of tobacco was the most prevalent among them, followed by alcohol, inhalants, cannabis, heroin, opium, pharmaceutical opioids, sedatives and injecting drugs.

The researchers also found that family members of 86 per cent of the street children were also indulged in substance abuse which explains the early exposure to drugs and the addiction and dependence that came with it. 

Nearly 80 per cent of the street children interviewed by the researchers said that they have faced problems due to drug abuse such as drug-induced fighting, injuries caused under its haze, accidents and sexual behaviour. About 12% of the children were asked to pay money or in sexual favours to acquire these additives.

Nearly half the children said that they need help quitting, there aren't sufficient facilities providing them with any helping hand. In most cases, even psychosocial transitions alone have helped the children quit drugs.

The treatment or counselling for drug use is hardly available at the hotspots and no provision for any kind of intervention has been established.

More rehabilitation centres for street children are needed to help them quit drugs. People selling such drugs and addictives to children should be heavily penalised.

Even though India had committed to be achieving sustainable development by 2030, which was to entitle every child to a decent living standard, we still have millions of children living and sleeping on the streets in adverse conditions. None of the problems whether it's hunger or health, provision of safe drinking water or quality education, that had been promised under its Sustainable Development Goals. 

Preferably, street children should have been benefited by the Integrated Child Protection Scheme and the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act, but out here in the real world, the reality of their lives is drastically opposite to that envisioned in the schemes.

References:

https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/aiims-study-says-one-third-of-delhi-street-kids-use-drugs-alcohol-1158302-2018-01-31