SHAKEELA ANDRABI
SRINAGAR: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday said that his administration, while treating the addicted youth as the victims of drug abuse, was going full throttle against the “drug-carriers and promoters” to foil this “conspiracy to ruin J&K and its youth.”
‘Addicted youth victims of drug abuse; won’t allow them to go astray’, he said.
The year 2022 introduced the common man with the ugly face of drug menace in Kashmir valley.
Although J&K administration is now taking some concrete steps to tackle this challenge, thousands of youth, including minors, are in epidemic of drug abuse.
Recently a top health official came up with shocking images of scar-dotted arm and leg of two drug addicts. The pictures posted on twitter on December 3, 2022 made the valley’s drug menace even more harrowing in depth and detail.
“Please protect yourself and your families from the epidemic of drug abuse,” appealed Dr. Salim Khan, the head of the Department Community Medicine, Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar. It was for the first time that people saw such scary pictures of the drug addicts. The general perception is that the substance abuse only damages the internal organs.
Like these two addicts, hundreds of youngsters in Kashmir have developed different dermatological manifestations due to substance abuse. The spike in wounds among the people who use drugs in the Valley presents a grim picture. According to the recent study, ‘Prevalence and pattern of dermatological manifestations among substance users across Kashmir in north India’ conducted by a senior doctor at GMC.
The study included a total of 710 cases with 657 males (92.5 percent) and 53 females (7.5 percent).The male-female ratio was 12.4:1 and the mean age of patients was 25 years. As per the study, at least 61.8 percent of patients were infected with Pruritus skin disease, 50.7 percent had stained fingers, and 48.5 percent of young patients were infected with oral involvement (periodontal disease, thrush, stomatitis nicotinica, black hairy tongue).
Also, 30 percent of substance-abuse patients were found to be infected with Hyperhidrosis, 28.6 percent had stigmata of injectable drug use (track marks and sooting tattoos), 17.6 had Acne vulgaris, Hesitation cuts were found in 16.3 percent patients, Facial hypermelanosis with Periorbital darkening in 12.5 percent patients, 9.4 percent patients were infected with skin popping scars.
“Pruritus with temporal relation to substance use, stigmata of injectable drug use including track marks and sooting tattoos, atrophic scars at injection sites, active skin ulcers, and skin and soft tissue infections, and hyperhidrosis are among important dermatological clues for detecting substance use. Recognition of such cutaneous signs is important in these cases for more effective diagnosis and treatment. Creating awareness regarding such manifestations and their probable association with substance use is also imperative,” the study revealed.
Arshad Hussain a renowned doctor, who wrote the Drug De-addiction Policy for J&K and is also the co-author of the paper said, “The scars and wounds on the skin of substance users are just external manifestations of cicatrix and blemishes of the brain. It turns youthfulness into doddering, changes beauty into hag and the ultimate destinations are severe mental illnesses and sudden deaths.”
