Drugs
Drug and Alcohol Problems
Every year some foreigners suffer serious lose or die due to drugs or alcohol. Some overdose, some by accidents. Some end up in jail due to drug trafficking.
Lately I've notice many younger travelers experimenting with cheap pills from the Indian pharmacies. Don't be foolish. Know what your taking. Mixing drugs such as Valium or Codeine with alcohol CAN(WILL) kill you.
As a female, going to an secret rave in the jungle with some 'friends' you just meet, popping a pill or two is a good way to become a victim!
Avoid drinking excessively or at all in India. Do not use unknown drugs or dangerous chemicals. Do not smoke with people you do not know or have just meet. Malicious drugs can be hidden in cigarettes or food.
Beware if you are drunk in public you may become victim to crime.
Understand that the cool local guy in India or Nepal who sells a bit is not like the cool guy in your home town. Asia has widespread narcotic problems. My advice is stay clear from these sort of people as much as possible. They are not your friends! Do not experiment with unknown drugs in India. Indian made LSD or MDMA may be ten times more potent than you are expecting.
Brown sugar,heroin,
china white, opium have destroyed the strongest of men. Why even try this once? If you have the wrong personality type you maybe be hooked for life. Don't think your bigger than this stuff - no one ever is. Certain foreign government have full time psychiatrist working in India to help their citizen who fall over the bend. If you get yourself in trouble go home, contact your embassy for help.
Bhang (marijuana) has been used for thousands of years in India, and is probably the safest intoxicant to use. It is often sold in government sanctioned shops and made into sweets during festival time. Actually it is common for parent to administer to their children - a sort of an ayurvedic Ritalin.
Beer and alcohol in India are very poor quality, they may contain high levels of preservative or unfiltered toxins. Alcohol, spirits, soft drinks are completely unregulated in India unlike for example some bottled water that has ISO registration.
That means there are different breweries and distilleries all over the country, with little constancy or quality control. The cap and bottling process is suspect in India. Caps usually become loose and the beer goes half flat or even rotten by the time you gets to you and you are suppose to drink it due to poor packaging. Liquor Tax is also high in India, the breweries must to keep production cost very low so as Indians could afford to buy it.
The recycling of the bottles may be suspect. Beer is sometime sold in cans which is preferable.
There are tax free zone such s Goa and Pondicherry and with little cheer the alcohol is of only slightly better quality. Imported liquors are also available at a high price or it could be fake. India has a culture of tea drinking, so do expect it to be a place like Thailand with a bar culture everywhere.
In conclusion, if your a consummate imbiber, you might reconsider India as a long term travel destination, for example you would no doubt enjoy Latin America much more in this case.
+ 2 + 1 