Youngsters in the Valley are falling prey to drugs
Mohammad Amin, a 55-year-old shopkeeper from South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, wanted his only son to become a chartered accountant. However, all his dreams were shattered as his 23-year-old son turned into a drug addict for the last five years. He is not only faced with deteriorating health and career, but the addiction is also taking a heavy toll on his family.
Over the years, Amin made every effort to stop him from taking harmful substances, but to no avail. “He first started smoking while studying in class 9. When he reached higher secondary, he started smoking cannabis and then eventually hard drugs,” said Amin.
As a response, Amin and his wife tried to restrict their son’s movement with friends and kept him locked inside his room for weeks. But soon after he started going out, the same things followed, said the visibly upset parent while waiting in a queue at the government’s Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Kashmir (IMHANS-K) to show him to a doctor.
Reflecting on how severe his son’s addiction had grown towards drugs, Amin said: “My son was introduced to a drug peddler by one of his friends. Initially, he was given drugs for free by a friend, then he had to purchase them on his own. When he was running out of money, he also sold his bike and laptop to buy drugs.”
For over a year, Amin has been taking his son to various doctors. In 2021, his body was detoxified, but within weeks, he got involved in drugs again. Currently, Amin’s son is on medication and has also started counselling sessions.
According to the J&K government’s recent survey, around 70,000 people are drug addicts in Kashmir, and among them 52,000 are taking intravenous (IV) heroin. The common substances used by drug addicts in Kashmir are cannabis, heroine, and brown sugar. A study by IMHANS-K also states that among the drug addicts in Kashmir, 61.70 per cent are unmarried people while 33.50 per cent are married, indicating that not only young people but also elders are falling prey to drug abuse.
Take the case of Mohammad Lateef (name changed), a 45-year-old resident of Srinagar’s Dalgate area. His tryst with drugs began 10 years ago when he went to Goa in pursuit of a job. In 2012, Lateef, father of two children, got involved when some foreign customers provided him drugs free of charge.
“These foreign customers first lured me towards wine and then cannabis, after which I started taking heroin in lieu of some money from customers as I would give them company in this harmful thing,” he narrated.
He lost everything, from his health to his hard-earned money, due to drugs for four-year. However, in 2016, he returned to his senses after it took a mental toll on his family members. “Initially, medicines did not help me much. I had almost lost hope, but luckily, I came across a few people who helped me get rehabilitated,” said Lateef, who now runs a shop in Srinagar and lives a normal life.
A 25-year-old youth from Central Kashmir’s Budgam district, on the other hand, got involved in drugs three years ago when he went to a cousin’s wedding and took drugs to ease stress and anxiety. However, he stopped and prefers to live a sober life at present.
(To be continued…)
(The writer is an independent journalist from Jammu and Kashmir: Charkha Features)