Dhaar Mehak
“Problem is not the drug but the shattered personality of the addict.”The worst ever global epidemic world is facing today is the menace of drug abuse. 40 million people globally are drug abused. To the greatest global misfortunes, drugs effect the most productive age groups. A whole sum of $180.9 billion, globally is spent on drugs. This is an amount that can be spent with ease on a drive of global literacy.
Kashmir context:Drug abuse on a considerable scale in Kashmir can be traced back to late 1960s. With the coming of non-locals and foreign nationals to the Regional Engineering College arrived the use of stimulants, tranquilizers, cannabis (charas), heroin etc. Their use contaminated the locals and like a silent choker it spreaded, escaping the naked eyes.
History: The Afghan, Sikh and the Maharaja rule in Kashmir is considered to be highly tyrinnical. While the former two had the sole aim of ammasing huge revenues from the State, the Maharaja cosidered himself the Zarkhareed (purchaser) of Kashmir. During the said regimes, there was widespread and legal cultivation of a number of drugs, mainly cannabis, especially grown in south and central Kashmir. The State collected huge amount of revenue from the sale of the same.
The use of tobacco has always been widespread throughout the State. However in the actual sense it began in 1960s. Though in the late 1980s armed conflict seemed as a bliss to end the menace of this abuse. As a matter of result, this turned out to be nothing but a smoked guise, ending up doing no good to the cause.
Causes: The causes broadly can be divided under two heads; Curiosity, Secondary Causes.
The work of the seller is a one time activity. His job ends when he introduces the drug for the first time to the prey. Since it is a self consuming process, the addict afterwards is compelled by the self to look for it.
Secondary causes are mainly the results of tension escapism.
Effects: The person so abused, gets involved in the process that is a whole term inclusion and thus the addict gets obsessed with it.
The use of cocaine costs the abused person Rs 2,000-2,500 on per day basis.
This leads to secondary issues like theft, involvement in drug trafficking, only to mention a few among the innumerable illicit activities.
Drugs and the conflict zone: Ours is a land of a 100 sentiments. A multi-faceted conflict zone. There is the influence of human-handed disaster as well as nature’s wrath. All this creates escapist tendencies. A continous conflict of two decades has had its influence on the major part of the population. Almost every single person has witnessed someone (known) missing, dead, injured, widow/widowed, orphan and so on. On the contrary, human nature seeks peace and when the realities are as much harsh, people do seek refuge. However in the lack of the knowledge and knowhow, people seek negative refuge and get involved into things as negative as drug abuse.
Channeling: The black business of drugs has a channel through which its illicit operations take place. They have targetted groups, they have the practioners, the sellers, the traders, mediators and so on;
Tourist/foreign linkages: Being a tourist destination, sources reveal the facts that it spreads through such contacts and interactions. Firstly the use of such substances is incurred by those associated with tourist activities. Secondly, they become a channel both as users and profit seekers and thus undergroundly, the menace spreads.
Political backing: All power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely. The word is power and power has lust. Authentic sources trace that many drug dealers and peddlers are immume to judiciary as they have political backing.
Local cultivation: South and central Kashmir espacially are infamous for the cultivation of the drugs, espacially Cannabis. This makes the selling availability and use of grugs very common and even a no-knowlegde man, on a little finding can come in contact with such salespersons.
Case studies: 1. Drug peddler. To avert the suspect of the authorities, many a narcotic and other gangs, are putting on ground women folk. In 2004 police arrested a women, who used to sell drugs, cannabis and brown sugar espacially. She however got released shortly, mostly due to the backing she has had. Her main customers were identified mostly the students of NIT and Kashmir University.
2. A student: A young boy of 14, got used to cigrette smoking, then cannabis and eventually other stimulants. In due course of time, he became highly addicted and in the latter years of his youth was brought to a leading psychatrist of Kashmir. His studies were left mid-way in class IX, he was diagnosed with many a number of side-effects of the abuse and his fertility has declined considerably. After being admitted into the police run de-addiction center, at present he works as a daily-wage labour.
Causes: Conflict zone in itself is a big cause for such a negative influence.
Main abuses: Cannabis, Opiate, Heroin, Poppy, Opium, Alcohol, Stimulants, OTCs, Tranquilisers among others.
Solution: The only good thing about any and every problem is that no matter what, it has got a solution. And for the problem, we here are concerned with, a big bang solution is the immediate need of the hour, in consideration. If we really want to save our population, espacially the most productive one, various solutions we need to pin-point;
Education: It is a sound education that moulds our characters in such a way that we begin visualising the aesthetic aspect of life. It is education that opens our eyes to the whole and demarcates the fine line between good and bad, positve and negative and so on.
Sprituality: Relegion(s) is the boost to the soul. Every religion preaches morality. Turning the sprituality can actually shun the vices from the person and thus across communities. Not only self help through sprituality but even the religious leaders and heads have their role to play.
Ending roots: The simple most yet the complicated way (amidst so many hinderances) to end the menace is to weed out all the cultivation and the supply channel. The addicts till then; can be well asylumed in the de-addiction centers and rest prevented.
Role of police: It is the police that keeps a check on such activities, breaks the gangs and takes the addicts into the custody. It is they, who primarily run the de-addiction centers and coordinate through them.
Parental policing: The preys are usually of the small age group. The best watch that can be monitored is through parents. Parents verily can keep a check on such activities and besides monitoring can curtail the issue right at the primitive level.
Media: We need to revise various media. By print and written media, we can bring out the ill effects and traps of the issue. The image media needs a serious check and revitalisation, the new commercial trend has developed such that it rather stimulates the addiction.
Immediate concerns:
No De-addiction centers: The only de-addiction center in Kashmir is the one run by Police Control Room Srinagar. We here need many more de-addiction centers.
No vocational centers: A part, we need vocational centers, in order to train such people in skills. They need to be taught skills so that they can work productively. It is necessary to keep them away from poor companies.
Self-help groups: We need to develope and inculcate conducive attitude towards the addicts. Globally, self-help groups have contributed a lot to the cause. And vocational rehabilitation is of immence importance.
Perks: Ours is a land of Sufis, the abode of saints and home of the pious. We still are at that level of deterioration from where verily a person can move back towards the legitimate. We better get going to the cause of productivity, legitimacy, morality and general good.
(Sourced mainly from the multiple works of Dr.Mushtaq Marghoob.)