Recovery tougher for female drug users

KATHMANDU, June 23: Compared to males, female drug users have a harder time recovering as they receive less support from family and society, help groups say. Aavas Samuha, a female D-Care Center, said outcast-like treatment by family and society complicates the recovery process of female drug users.



“Even those who manage to recover from drug addiction may not be able to quit drugs completely because of such environment,” Sonam Sherpa, team leader at Aavas Samuha said. [break]



According to Sherpa, almost all women drug users face sexual abuse, another factor that complicates recovery. The organization said the female drugs users usually do not have a fixed partner. “They let whosoever provides them drugs abuse their body,” Sherpa added.



Unwanted pregnancy is common problem among the female drug users. About a dozen out of 63 clients receiving treatment at the center are single mothers. “The newborns of a drug addict mother may have lower birth weight and smaller head sizes than babies born to mothers who are non drug users,” said Sherpa. “Also, the partners of female drug users do not accept guardianship of the child citing multiple partners,” she said.



Doctors said that pregnant drug users suffer the risk of miscarriage, low weight gain, anemia, hypertension and other medical problems. Similarly, women who use drugs often suffer from other serious health problems, sexually transmitted diseases, and mental health problems like depression.



Sahara Dahal, an employee at Aavas Samuha, said more than a dozen of their clients are those who are expelled from their family. Some are imprisoned inside their houses. “No parents would want to let their daughter go out for getting further abused,” she said, adding, “But imprisoning is no solution to the problem.”



Dahal said whole family suffers due to one member´s addiction to drugs. Most of the families who live in a rented house face the problem of accommodation. “When an owner learns about the addiction, he asks the family to leave the house,” Pramila Bhujel, 18, a former drug user, who is undergoing treatment, said.



Bhujel said she might not be able to complete her schooling due to the addiction. She said she picked up the drug habit from her boy friend. The influence of a partner, said Sherpa, the team leader, forces more women into addiction these days.



Bhujel also laments the way female drug users are discriminated by their family and society. “If a son recovers from addiction, he is easily accepted by the family and the society, but a female is not accepted,” she said. "The stigma produced by various types of discrimination brings frustration, leading to lapses from recovery."

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