Toddlers addicted to spiked toddy: Post-pandemic surge alarms Telangana villages, doctors
But this isn't about innocent exposure to a mild drink.
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According to the TOI report, that's being consumed is toddy laced with strong sedatives like alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), and chlordiazepoxide (Librium), substances that can cause lasting neurological harm even in adults.
Post-COVID spike in paediatric addiction cases
Doctors are sounding the alarm over a sharp increase in such cases since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pediatric patients are being brought to hospitals with classic withdrawal symptoms—seizures, high fever, persistent sleeplessness, and irritability.
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Psychiatrists told TOI that four to five such cases are now reported every month, a significant uptick compared to pre-pandemic times.
Dr. Srinivas SRRY, head of the psychiatry department and nodal officer for addiction treatment at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Warangal, said many of these children have been regularly consuming toddy since infancy.
'What we're seeing is deeply alarming,' he told TOI. 'Kids under 10 are being admitted with withdrawal symptoms from alcohol and sedatives they were never supposed to consume in the first place.'
Cultural norms worsening the crisis
In many households, toddy has long been viewed as a traditional, even harmless, drink.
Parents and grandparents, unaware of its adulteration, continue to give it to children to calm them or help them sleep—especially in low-income families where both parents are out working.
However, the spike in cases post-pandemic suggests deeper issues.
Doctors believe that job losses, school closures, and the psychological toll of the pandemic may have led to increased reliance on toddy, even among children, to manage stress or keep them subdued while caregivers were absent.
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