Nearly all patients admitted to the Drug De-addiction Center (DAC) at the SMHS Hospital for heroin addiction have said that the dangerous substance can be acquired quite easily in all parts of Kashmir.
A 27-year-old small-time employee of a private enterprise inDowntown Srinagar had his first tryst with heroin a year ago.
“Two friends had started consuming the drug and they offeredme a free trial,” he said, sitting up on his bed at the DAC, his hair mattedand his clothes unkempt.
In the months that followed, the young man sold all hisbelongings, stole and sold his wife’s jewellery, spent the Eidi of his twochildren and then resorted to petty thefts to sustain the supply of heroincosting Rs 2500 a day.
“It was just money that I needed… Chetta (heroin) isavailable everywhere here,” he said.
He said he bought heroin from a number of areas in Uptownand Downtown areas, government colonies and markets.
On a nearby bed, a much younger and more distraught patientargues and pleads with staff for discharge.
Exposed to heroin in school in a south Kashmir village, this15 year old wanted to just experience a “dose”.
Unaware that even a single dose of heroin could devastatethe human mind and body, he soon found himself homeless and peddling the drug.
“A friend gave me a little quantity that I would sell toother students. Rs 500 for a pinch,” he said.
The teenager asserts that heroin is “as easily available tostudents as cigarettes are”.
“One just needs to ask for it,” he said.
A class 12 student from a renowned school in Srinagar, whois under treatment for the past three months, had started his “journey todevastation” with cannabis at the age of 14.
He and his friends gradually started experimenting withother drugs.
“We tried pills (medicinal opioids), bottles (cough syrups),weed (cannabis), chasing (nasal heroin) and then finally tichuk (injectableheroin),” he said, asserting that “all drugs were just a phone call away”.
“In times of hartals and curfews, we had it delivered at ourplaces on bicycles,” he said.
Doctors and staff working with victims of substance abuse atthe DAC corroborate the patients account.
“If a 14-year-old school going kid and a 25-year –oldsalesman say they had no difficulty in procuring heroin it sure is everywhere,”said Dr Yasir H Rather, Associate Professor and in charge of DAC.
He said the profile of a heroin addict has changed over thepast one year.
“Earlier we used to see patients who were usuallyunemployed, very young, unmarried, had long history of substance abuse asheroin addicts. Now, it is any background, any family profile, any age, anyarea,” he added and warned that “everyone” was at risk due to easy availabilityof the drug.
Ahfadul Mujtaba, IGP Crime Branch and Nodal Officer J&Kfor Narcotics Control Bureau, said there is higher availability of heroin inthe state at present and blamed it on “many factors”.
“Many neighbouring countries have been devastated by heroinand it reached India through Punjab. Now that Punjab is being plugged, it iscoming to our state from across the border,” he said.
He stressed on the importance of “setting deterrence” throughlaw enforcement towards which his department had trained personnel and equippedthem with skills to frame “foolproof cases” and ensure conviction.
“We are starting fresh training in Kashmir which will helpus nab, prosecute and ensure punishment to the smugglers and that would go along way in bringing the supply down,” he said.
On the other hand, M Raju, Excise Commissioner J&K,expressed ignorance about the reasons behind the surge in heroin availabilityand the number of people abusing the drug.
“We are increasing intelligence related to heroin and otherdrugs in the state and a lot of funds have been allocated to this area,” hesaid.
He said that the department was being proactive in curbingthe menace of drugs in the state and that its enforcement division had beenstrengthened.
“Nearly 4000 kanals of bhang (cannabis) cultivation has beendestroyed in recent time and heroin has been seized and destroyed at manyplaces by our staff,” he said.
He said that the department was working closely with thepolice and health departments to enforce J&K Drug De-addiction policy.