A study of drug abuse in rural areas of Punjab (India).

In 1976 an epidemiological survey of drug abuse was conducted in 24 rural villages of four Community Development Blocks (CDB) in three districts of Punjab State bordering Pakistan covering 1276 households. The majority of households had one user. Both men and women reported the use of traditional drugs, i.e. alcohol, tobacco, opium and cannabis. In males, the commonest drug used was alcohol (58.3%), followed by tobacco (19.3%), opium (6.3%) and cannabis (1.2%). The majority of the female respondents were non-users, but a very small number reported use of tobacco, alcohol and opium. The observations are compared with other studies and implications discussed.