Network for Peer led Drug and Alcohol Prevention

Prof. T K Thomas*     “ The odds of psychotic disorder among daily cannabis users were 3.2 times higher than for never users, whereas the odds among users of high-potency cannabis were 1.6 times higher than never users .” I had interactions with a large number of patients and recovering drug addicts during my association with one of the leading drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centers in Delhi. All of them were addicted to various substances and were multi drug users including alcohol, a legal drug in our country which actually is a depressant. While documenting their stories I found that in an overwhelming majority of cases their initiation into drugs started with what we call Ganja/ ‘Charas’ or marijuana, which at least a few experts consider as a “gateway” to addiction to more potent drugs. These substances known by different names have mood altering properties. Most of them tried or experimented with these drugs, derived from t