Kakinada: Tipplers take to cough syrup, sanitisers

Kakinada: With Prohibition and Excise department closing all the liquor shops in the wake of lockdown, persons addicted to alcohol are indulging in consuming hand sanitisers, cough syrups and illicitly distilled (Id) liquor to get intoxicated. As there has been widespread awareness to use alcohol-based sanitisers for hand washing, many are opting them as it contains 60 per cent alcohol, which is creating a tension among the officials in the district.

APJ Vinu, psychologist and corporate trainer told The Hans India that due to lockdown the habitual guzzlers were going through a stressful period. They have never experienced such a long gap no alcohol, due to which many drunkards were not able to stay calm at home. Further, he said that Delirium Tremens Symptoms (DTS), also called alcohol withdrawal symptoms, affect the addicts by creating a state of confusion, hallucinations, delusions and severe agitation. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms may include difficulty in sleeping, tremors, increased sweating, palpitations, headache, stomach upset, poor appetite, anxiety, irritability, restlessness and severe craving i.e. an irresistible urge to consume alcohol.

To overcome this craving, alcoholics were indulging in abuse of cough syrups, medicines, sedative pills and a few other alcohol-based over the counter medicines, he added. The psychologist warns that hand sanitisers were meant for external use only and were poisonous if consumed. The effects of consuming sanitisers may include intoxication, slurred speech, blurred vision, dizziness, a few may experience diarrhoea, blindness, memory loss and damage to internal organs.

Vinu said that the State government should take steps to protect public and arrange counselling for drunkards to ensure that they may not lose sanity and consume alcohol substitutes that may pose risk to their lives.