Dynamics of Drug Addiction and Abuse in India

This book analyzes drug addiction and abuse from the perspectives of the state and community in India, with a special focus on North-West regions of India. India lies in the transit route of two major global centres of heroin and cocaine processing: the Golden Triangle of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos towards the East; and the Golden Crescent of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan to the West making it vulnerable to drug trafficking and curbing this has been a tough challenge for enforcement agencies.

The book looks at:

• the nature and pattern of drug addiction across the age groups, gender and occupational groups, both in rural and urban areas in India
• the socio-economic causes of drug-use and addiction and the various socio-economic costs associated with it
• the general perception of family members, police and political leaders on drug addiction as well as rehabilitation; and
• available mechanisms to address the issue at the level of family, society and government and the changes required in policy to curb drug addiction and use

This interdisciplinary book will be of importance to students and researchers of economics, cultural and social anthropology, sociology, police administration, political science, and psychology. It will also be of interest to policy makers, government agencies, social scientists, departments of social and preventive medicine, social workers, civil society, drug-addicts and their families.

Ranjit Singh Ghuman is currently Professor of Eminence (Economics) at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Prior to that he was Nehru Chair Professor at CRRID, Chandigarh and Professor & head Economics Department at Punjabi University Patiala. He has published extensively on issues having socio-economic bearing. Development economics, rural and agricultural development, emerging water scarcity, international trade, drug menace and economic transformation and human rights are some of his special areas of interest. He has also been on the various academic and administrative committees and councils of various universities and committees and commissions of the government of Punjab.

Jatinder Singh is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), Chandigarh. He obtained his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi and M.Phil from Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Trivandrum. His research areas include Foreign Direct Investment, Technology Development and Industrialisation in India. He has published extensively. He has completed six research projects funded by various national agencies and governments. He has worked in different capacities with various organisations including CDS, Trivandrum; Centre for World Trade Organization Studies, New Delhi; University of Delhi, New Delhi; and National University of Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi.

Gurinder Kaur is Assistant Professor at a reputed ICSSR research institute, Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, Chandigarh, India. She is PhD in Anthropology from Panjab University, Chandigarh. Her academic training is in social anthropology and research interest in medical anthropology, particularly critical medical anthropology. Her research focuses on medical pluralism, cultural connotations of health and illness, social biography of drug addiction and structural and institutional factors influencing health and illness. She has published research articles in edited books and journals and has a book on religion and health: narratives on faith healing.