Srinagar: A 26-year-old man, dressed in a casual blue T-shirt and faded jeans, is taking a walk in the lobby of the drug de-addiction centre at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital. He doesn’t exhibit any overt signs of addiction, until one looks at his arm, where scars tell a tale of long-term heroin usage.
“Around three to four years ago, I started sniffing heroin, also called ‘chasing’. During that time, I also took brown sugar and cannabis. But each passing day, I wanted something stronger, and within six months, I was directly injecting heroin into my blood through needles,” he says.
The man, who does not wish to be identified beyond stating his profession as a cab driver, admits that he ended up spending Rs 1.8 lakh on his addictions, while a friend of his sold his car to buy drugs.
“It was only after my friend died, probably from a drug overdose, that I decided to seek help. I told my parents and they were heartbroken. But I have been clean for five days now,” he says.
Monstrous growth
The cab driver and his friend are hardly isolated cases; thousands of Kashmiri youth are in the grip of drug addiction. The SMHS de-addiction centre, the main such facility in the Kashmir Valley, has registered a 945 per cent rise in patients since 2016-17 — 489 patients visited its Out Patients Department (OPD) between April 2016 and March 2017, 3,622 in the next 12 months, and 5,113 in the 12 months after that.
Between April and June 2019, as many as 1,095 more patients have visited the facility.
The picture is as grim among patients admitted to the centre. From 116 patients in 2014, the number has risen every subsequent year — 203 in 2015, 207 in 2016, 374 in 2017 and 624 in 2018.
The crisis has deepened so much that the Jammu and Kashmir Police has decided to set up a separate helpline to address cases of drug abuse. In fact, at the security review meeting of the J&K state administration last week, the easy availability of drugs became the main talking point.
Why people are taking to drugs
Dr Saleem Yousuf sees 50-60 patients every day, a majority of whom are aged between 10 and 30. He estimates that 80-90 per cent of them are heroin addicts.
“Recently we had a 45-year-old woman who was consuming heroin. The reason she cited was killings of her family members in the conflict — that is one of the stress factors that we have seen among drug abuse patients,” he says. “Domestic issues and unemployment also lead to drug abuse, as does curiosity and the desire to entertain themselves.”
A 17-year-old boy from south Kashmir is a case in point for curiosity. His father says there were no serious issues in his son’s life that could have prompted him to take drugs. The boy says his friends got him to take heroin as they knew many peddlers who operate in the area, but he only took it three times before his father found out and immediately brought him to SMHS.
“I didn’t pay anything for the drug, nor did any of my friends. Later, we heard that is how the peddlers operate — the first few packets are free, so that we get hooked on the drug. After that, you have to pay Rs 1,000 for one gram,” the boy says.
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How the menace spread
Another patient, whose main suppliers were a male and a female peddler operating out of Batwara area in Srinagar, offers an insight into how the drug menace spread in Srinagar.
“Initially we used to get drugs from Sangam area, which is around 35 km from my home. Now, it is easily available in Pampore and other areas close to Srinagar. I have seen how the drug network spread,” he says.
A peddler can sell 25 packets a day, earning upwards of Rs 25,000, he says. “In villages, the rate is Rs 1,000; in Srinagar it is 1,800-2,000, and outside Kashmir, it sells for Rs 4,500. It is an industry and everyone is profiting from it,” says the patient.
The increase in drug consumption might be a direct result of increased pilferage on Kashmiri drug routes, according to a government official.
“It is our understanding that suddenly pilferage along the route increased, which resulted in formation of these drug conduits. Most of the drugs come from Tangdhar region and pass through parts of north, central and south Kashmir. Most drug consumption was noticed along the route, with Sopore, Srinagar and Anantnag most affected. This is a crisis situation,” the official says.
Blame on the police
The father of the 17-year-old alleges that the police are not doing enough to combat the menace.
“The peddlers trap our children and police looks the other way. We are told the police are not able to control the drug problem due to militancy, but what about Srinagar and north Kashmir, where there is less militancy compared to south Kashmir? How come the drug has been coming from the north?” he asks.
The patient who used to procure drugs from Batwara adds: “The police have made a lot of arrests, but the big fish are allowed to operate. I know many drug kingpins like Man Tiger, Chota Tiger, Balki and Tabish. Firdous, who runs a hotel, continues to do business and ruin lives of youth like me.”
Hasnain Masoodi, the National Conference MP from Anantnag, admits the police have not been effective in combating the problem, but adds: “That’s maybe because their focus is on other equally important things. Of late, there are some steps being taken, but I fear they are not enough.”
Police counter claims
K. Vijay Kumar, security adviser to the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, says it is unfair to make generalised, sweeping statements about the entire police force.
“There might be a lacklustre approach and negligence here and there, but we are taking a number of steps to battle the menace. We are looping in school teachers, religious figures, mosques, rehabilitated victims of drug abuse and families. A separate helpline will be established as well, and the police have made a series of arrests,” Kumar says.
However, a senior police officer says heroin has to be stopped at its source to make such measures more effective. The officer alleges that the heroin coming into Kashmir is from Pakistan and Afghanistan, and until three years ago, was being transported to Punjab and other northern states.
“There are no labs to manufacture heroin here. All of it comes from foreign countries, and that is where Kashmiri drug transporters gain significance. They have a network spread from the LoC to the Valley, and it is spreading across India too,” the officer says.
“The role of a Kashmiri resident from Handwara emerged last month when Customs seized 532 kg of suspected heroin worth Rs 2,700 crore at Attari. The case is being seen very seriously by the Centre.”
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Measures being taken
The police too have their own de-addiction centre, and senior officials say several others will be built, not only in Srinagar but across the Valley. But another question raised often is if the police and the doctors in the Valley are adequately equipped to handle this “epidemic”.
Dr Yousuf says medical professionals are trying everything at their disposal to treat addicted individuals.
“The first few days after a patient checks himself/herself in are crucial. They begin to show withdrawal symptoms, which include excruciating pain and diarrhoea within 12 hours. We give them the best medicines, and have also introduced group therapy sessions. We also let families stay here for emotional support,” he says.
“Patients are also given Naltrexone, which produces withdrawals symptoms not on quitting drugs but upon taking them again. This acts as a deterrent, and also brings them back here for treatment. But I can tell you, it is a struggle. Much more needs to be done,” Dr Yousuf adds.
Dr Yasir Hassan Rather, who heads the SMHS drug de-addiction centre, says: “It is an unprecedented situation and needs unprecedented measures to counter it. A lot of drug overdose deaths are unreported and scores of youth are dying due to heavy intravenous heroin use.
“To make matters worse, victims of drug abuse are socially boycotted. We need to understand that all of us are stakeholders in this, and we need to remove this stigma and shame attached to drug abuse and instead work towards saving our future, or all will be lost.”
Support needed from traditional institutions
Masoodi, the Anantnag MP, says one way to tackle the drug menace is to involve traditional institutions.
“We need to go back to our traditional institutions and seek their support — the mosques, madrassas and families all have to come together. This problem is invisible, let us shed light on it and tackle it effectively,” he said.
Suhail Bukhari, media adviser to former J&K CM and Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti, agreed with the National Conference leader.
“This menace is eating us, and more importantly, the youth of our state. We can’t conclusively point out exact reasons behind the problem, nor should we blame anyone in particular, but what we need is a unified front. Religious and educational institutions should reach out to the youth. Everyone must play their part,” Bukhari said.
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