Youth abusing paint thinners is on the rise in Paro. This is according to a drop-in centre, called Jurwa which conducts daily counselling and outreach programmes in the district. The group says the main reasons are a shortage of other drugs due to the COVID pandemic. Moreover, the available ones are expensive.
Young people visit the drop-in centre to get help for drugs and alcohol addiction. Jurwa is operated by a group of recovering addicts. The group organises meetings twice a week and provides guidance and support to the recovering addicts.
Every evening, the group also head out into town to help people with such problems.
Recently, the number of people they have encountered abusing paint thinners has increased. They say they would sometimes meet one or two abusers in the past. Nowadays, they meet around twenty young people every night who are hooked on thinners.
Thinners are spirits used to thin paint.
People say the drug is easily available and affordable as well.
“We buy it from the hardware stores but the shopkeepers deny selling it, so we request the labourers to buy for us. We have to give the labourers about Nu 200 to Nu 300 for buying it for us,” said one of the recovering addicts.
“When we see our friends using the thinner, we cannot resist. But these days, I am attending regular counselling,” said another recovering addict.
According to Sonam Tshering, founder of Jurwa and one of the counsellors at the centre, youth abusing thinner increased after the closure of the borders last year. “The majority of youth and adolescents cannot afford to buy other psychotropic drugs. That’s why youth are abusing the thinner widely. Thinner is available, accessible and affordable in the market.”
Some of the hardware stores in the town say young people coming to their stores to buy paint thinners have increased.
If not discontinued promptly, experts say paint thinner abuse can result in severe problems, including paralysis, coma or death.
Namgay Wangchuk, Paro
Edited by Yeshi Gyaltshen
