Drug Abuse among Women in Slum Areas of Varanasi: A Review of Evidence, Determinants, and Research Gaps

Drug abuse among women has emerged as an important yet inadequately explored public health and social concern in India. The issue becomes particularly serious in slum settings, where poverty, insecurity, domestic violence, food insecurity, limited access to health services, stigma, and weak psychosocial support systems may increase women’s susceptibility to substance use while simultaneously restricting their access to treatment and rehabilitation. The present review examines the available literature relevant to drug abuse among women in the slum areas of Varanasi. Owing to the scarcity of direct studies focused specifically on women’s own substance use in Varanasi slums, the review draws upon three interrelated bodies of evidence: Indian studies on women and substance use, research on psychosocial and health vulnerabilities among women living in slum settings, and Varanasi- or Uttar Pradesh-based studies that illuminate the broader urban-poor context. The reviewed literature includes studies by Lal et al., Nebhinani et al., Shiri et al., Sreenivasan et al., Sharma et al., Abdi et al., Panigrahi et al., Das et al., Rani et al., Speizer et al., and Keshav and Komaraiah. Across these studies, recurring themes include the hidden nature of women’s substance use due to stigma, the role of stress, violence, and social exclusion as pathways to substance use, significant physical and mental health consequences, family burden, and the limited availability of women-sensitive treatment systems. The review concludes that women living in slum settlements require gender-responsive prevention strategies, early identification, mental health support, family-centered interventions, and accessible community-based de-addiction services. It further identifies a major research gap in the form of limited direct empirical evidence on drug abuse among women residing in the slum areas of Varanasi.