At Drug De-Addiction Centre (DAC) of Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar here, 15 out of 20 patients undergoing treatment were abusing heroin, the records reveal. One among them, a 19 year old youth from an affluent family, said three people he knew as fellow heroin addicts have died this year.
“I do not want to die like them. I want to rid myself ofthis curse,” he said. While narrating the painful ordeals of their struggleswith heroin addiction, he said one of them was on treatment but relapsed whenhe went back from hospital. “His first dose (of heroin) after treatment provedto be his last,” he said.
Having seen their fellow addicts losing their lives to thedangerous drug these young men are now seeking treatment for heroin addiction.The number of treatment seekers and deaths has seen increase recently, doctorsat the centre said.
Another young man, in his 20s, also admitted in the sameCenter, said that at least four young people he knew taking heroin died in therecent past. “Their families know how they died but because of the stigmaattached with the addiction, the truth remains buried,” he said.
Dr Arshid Hussain, Professor of Psychiatry at the GMC, said”patient narratives and circumstantial evidence” was pointing towards the factthat substance use disorders in general and opioids in particular is becomingdeath trap for young in Kashmir.
“World over it is the third leading cause of death in young…if things continue like this, we might not be far away,” he said.
Dr Yasir H Rather, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at theGMC and in-charge DAC, said that deaths due to heroin go unreported or arehushed up due to social reasons.
Nevertheless, he said, people who are in knowhow of youthdying in this unfortunate manner, were fully aware of the cause of deaths andmany of them, who were also into the abuse of heroin have been coming forwardto seek treatment.
“These deaths are a stark reality that is staring theabusers in face and once they see a person they know dying of an overdose orsome other complication, it serves as an eye-opener,” he said.
However, he said, the number of people coming forward forhelp was still “very low”.
Psychiatrists at the GMC said that there was no dataavailable about deaths attributable for substance abuse. Dr Rather said thateven in hospitals, where many such deaths take place, it was difficult toretrieve records related to substance abuse deaths.
“In such a scenario, it is snowballing technique only thatcould yield information about such deaths,” he said. Snowball is a researchtechnique where one participant chooses or recommends other participant in astudy.
He said that through his interactions with patients at theCentre, it was quite clear that many deaths are taking place in and outsidehospitals due to heroin abuse.
He said that heroin abuse through injections has increasedover the recent past and it was a gateway to death by overdose, spread ofinfections like Hepatitis B, C and HIV, in additions to other health hazardslike damage to internal organs.
“It is a ticking time bomb… and just the tip of iceberg,” hesaid.
Dr Hussain underlined the fact that heroin related deathswere preventable and a vigilant society with strict control mechanisms in placecould make that possible. “For the sake of a generation every one of us needsto contribute to reducing substance abuse,” he said.
As per records available at DAC, at the beginning of 2019,around 25 percent of people admitted for heroin abuse were using the drugintravenously, while in June, the percentage increased to around 50 percent.