Does Migrants are More Vulnerable to Substance Abuse? A Study of Mumbai Slum Migrants

The epidemic of substance abuse has assumed alarming dimensions in India. Migrant people abuse substances such as drugs, alcohol, and tobacco for varied and complicated reasons, but it is clear that our society pays a significant cost. The toll for this abuse can be seen, in our hospitals and emergency departments, through direct damage to health by substance abuse and its link to physical trauma. The main aim is an attempt has been made to understand the migrants substance use behaviour by their background characteristics. Consumption of alcohol, both smoke and smokeless forms of tobacco use, who are regularly with high frequency in day taking alcohol and regular use tobacco forms of among migrants has been captured in this study. Present study is based on the quantitative interviews of 300 male migrants with each 100 respondents of never married, married but not staying with wife and staying with wife, those who are migrated from Andhra Pradesh to Bhiwandi slum areas of Mumbai. The results of logistic regression reveal that alcohol consumption is associated with moderate/high wealth index, marital status and job stress. It seems the migrants who belong to high wealth index (AOR 9.14, 95 % CI 76-47.28), moderate wealth index (AOR 7.56, 95 % CI 2.15-26.50) are more likely to consume alcohol that the migrants belonging to low wealth index. Migrants who are staying with wife, migrants who not staying with wife are more likely to consume alcohol than the unmarried migrants