JOIN USKashmir becoming drug hub of India
With Kashmir slowly becoming the country's drug hub, a recent study has revealed that the Valley has surpassed Punjab in substance-abuse cases.
The study done by the Psychiatry department of Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar reveals that Kashmir is currently at the number two position among the top drug abuser states in the country with Northeast topping the list.
It states that the overall prevalence of substance abuse has reached 2.87 with the deadly Heroin becoming the most commonly used drug by addicts. The substance abuse is predominant in young males with a mean age of 28.15 years.
“Substance abuse was seen largely in the unemployed population at 25.2 per cent. The most commonly used psychoactive substance was opioids in every district of Kashmir,” it reads.
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi had done a study recently where they said that Punjab has 1.2 per cent of opiate users while the study done in Kashmir has shown the percentage at 2.87 per cent.
Dr Fazal-ul-Rab, co-author of the study says they conducted the research in all 10 districts of Kashmir and found some alarming statuses as far as the substance-use scenario is concerned.
“For the first time we are seeing Injection Heroin as the main substance user, previously we used to see painkillers and Cannabis users. We found 67,000 substance users overall, mainly using Heroin,” he said.
The study has also revealed that most of the drug abusers in Kashmir were in the age group of 17-33 years with unemployed youth one of the main consumers of these drugs. The number of drug abusers in the valley has crossed 67,000 with 33,000 injecting Heroin using syringes.
Dr Arshid Hussain, a professor of Psychiatry at GMC Srinagar said drug abuse has an economic burden given the amount spent by addicts. “As drugs affect the youth, who are considered to be the most productive among the population, it affects the overall growth of the economy as well,” he told DH.
Dr Hussain said that young deaths were happening in Kashmir due to drug overdose. “We observed that 30 per cent to 40 per cent addicts suffered from overdose symptoms. Timely intervention can save many but if the families don’t report to hospitals in time, the person may die due to overdose of Heroine,” he said.
In the last two years, J&K police and other security agencies have coined the term “narco-terrorism” as they claim militancy in Kashmir was now being financed by the narcotic trade.
“Our neighbour (Pakistan) is not happy with the peaceful atmosphere in J&K and wants to promote narco-terrorism by luring the youth towards drugs and use the money earned out of narco-sale to fuel terrorism,” J&K police chief Dilbagh Singh said in July.