As a Mumbaikar, it's extremely upsetting to see #DrugCityMumbai trending this morning. Even more upsetting that while making these #Bollywood allegations, we've forgotten lakhs of Indians who can't afford #rehab and need better community + policy support to fight #drug addiction.

2.1% of India use opioid #drugs including opium, heroin & pharmaceutical opioids. Of these heroin (including smack, brown sugar) is most common.

2.1% of India - i.e. 2.26 CRORE people. Are their lives less important because they're not glamorous like alleged #Bollywood users?

Only 25% of all Indians suffering from #drugaddiction ever recieve treatment. In-patient treatment rates are even lower with only 5% recieving this.

Opiod use in India is 3x the global avg!!! Still no outrage over this though, because #DrugCityMumbai is a catchier hashtag right?

NOTE: 15-24 yr olds are swapping smoking tobacco for alcohol & psychotropic #drugs.

As we tweet frenzied allegations about some #DrugDealerTai, please remember: we currently DO NOT have the rehab infrastructure to help each of these youngsters + others. https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.hindustantimes.com/india-news/indian-youth-ditches-smoking-for-drinks-and-drugs/story-er1Vtd8cSWjTE6ipXvVpPK_amp.html

#NDDTC & #AIIMS' 'Magnitude of Substance Use in India 2019' states,

'Considering the wide treatment gap (mismatch between demand and availability of treatment services) in the country, India
needs massive investments in enhancing the avenues for treatment.'

#DrugCityMumbai

It goes on to add, 'Protecting the youth of the nation is of
paramount importance. Very often prevention
of drug use is seen (erroneously) as
synonymous with spreading the awareness about dangers of drug use among young
people.'

#Drugs #DrugAddction #DrugCityMumbai

'Research has demonstrated that best prevention strategies are those which are based on
scientific evidence and which involve working with families, schools and communities in general.'

Pls remember the word 'community' next time you focus on #Bollywood instead of our youth.

Leaving you with a few graphs and a whole lot of rage.

Source for the stats on this thread: https://www.aiims.edu/en/national-drug-use-survey-2019.html

Oh, and #Drugs #DrugDealerTai #DrugCityMumbai #Bollywood #BollywoodDarkSecrets -- because I'm hoping that maybe you will pay attention to the real issue here