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The Rediff Special/ Archana Masih in Glasgow

'More drug use is going on in society than we are aware of'

It is the tip of the iceberg. That is what drug counsellors in Glasgow say about the growing drug abuse amongst young Asians. The past four years have not only seen an increase in the Asian drug habit, but also of two peculiar phenomena termed as the 'holiday drug habit', and the 'to-and-fro' syndrome.

Some recent cases within the Pakistani community reveal that young drug users experimenting with drugs in Glasgow were becoming dependent users while visiting Pakistan during their holidays. The easy and cheap availability of heroin made it easier for them to continue with their habit there.

"I was shocked to see the price difference between Glasgow and Lahore. A gram of heroin which cost me 50, 70 quid here, was available for less than one pound over there, and it was purer than what I could buy here," reveals a former drug user. At the same time, some parents are sending their children to Pakistan to get them off the drug habit. In the hope that a conservative family atmosphere back home would restrict their kids from dabbling with drugs, the youngsters are encouraged to remain in Pakistan for a few months.

But it is an experiment that has not had much success. "I was sent to Lahore, but on my second day there I was already buying heroin from local peddlers," says TK who was sent to Pakistan for three months in 1998. He says it was easy for him to identify sources from where to get his stuff and his family could never guess that he was a regular abuser. "I remember, I once went to some village -- I can't remember the name of the place though -- and there was this room which had sacks of cocaine, hashish and heroin. When you have such easy access, it is very difficult to turn yourself away from temptation," he says.

A family emergency required him to return to Glasgow and he went for a self-administered detox programme for three weeks before leaving Pakistan. "It was very hard for me, I stayed clean for a month on my return but then went back to the habit." He has managed to remain "totally clean" for the past few months, and moved out of his parents's home and lives on his social security.

His other friends have not been as lucky. Out of the five of them who hung out together and were sent to the sub continent for a similar programme, two died of over use, one still continues as an addict and two have moved out of Scotland where they used to live. He says two other boys have been sent to a rehabilitation centre in Lahore, one of whom has been there for six months already.

Nagina Mallik, a development worker with Eshara, an organisation working for Asian and ethnic minority drug users, says they recently had another inquiry from a parent asking if sending their child to Pakistan would help him get out of his habit. "It is a developing trend that cannot be ignored," says Mallik. "It remains hidden in society because of the stigma attached, but more drug use is going on in society than we are aware of."

Mallik, who has been working in the field since 1994, says the problem is compounded because there are not enough services catering to the Asian or Black ethnic minority group. In fact, Eshara is the only such centre in the north.

Another factor that makes this a difficult issue to tackle is the negligible presence of the Asian drug user in the Drug Misuse Database. The perception is that because Asians don't come to local service centres with their problems, they don't feature on such databases. "It is impossible to know the exact numbers because services don't get to see users from the Asians and the black ethnic minority group. We know that of the 30,000 drug users in Scotland, a majority come from the deprived communities," says David Liddel of the Scottish Drug Forum. He further says that although the number of Asian drug users in Scotland is not as high as that in England, it is just a matter of time before that stage is reached.

Several pieces of research done in the field of Asian drug use reveal that the nature of drug use amongst Asians is similar to that among the White population. Kamlesh Patel at the University of Central Lancashire, who has done extensive research in this field, says the holiday drug habit had become a consistent issue.

According to Patel, one factor which does relate to Asians is linked to their demographic profile. For instance, 10 years ago the large majority of young Asians (50 per cent) were in the five, six years age group, now that group is in its early teens and is living in the most deprived areas of the UK. Unlike young White people, the young Asian drug users's drug of first choice is heroin -- largely because of the availability of that drug in Pakistani communities as the drug originates in Afghanistan and travels through Pakistan to the UK.

Yet what is cause for concern in Scotland is that the magnitude of the Asian drug problem still remains veiled. And drug counsellors feel that by the time it becomes a 'burning' issue, it might just be too late.

Archana Masih travelled to Glasgow as a British Chevening scholar.

The Rediff Specials

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