Kashmir these days is abuzz with the news about how drug abuse has seeped into our society. From the people in governance to those heading political parties, we hear the sounds of concern. The civil society has also started getting very concerned about the menace. Now the figures revealed by the concerned departments are taking the level of disturbance too high. While it’s true that sometimes too much of talk about any issue has a danger of misleading us, but here the issue at hand is such that even if the alarm is little extra, it will only benefit us as a society. However, we need to keep in mind that we shouldn’t be self flagellating. We shouldn’t demean ourselves, and start looking at our youth as criminally disposed. If we ensure that we approach this problem with wisdom and rationality we would attain the desired objective without getting frustrated, and without making wrong conclusions. The first point that needs to be underlined is that our society is like any other human society. We have good elements, and bad elements in us.
We come forward as a society, when there are challenges like 2014 floods. But at the same time we break under the pressure of the outward conditions and start yielding to wrong activities. Again, the trends globally have an impact on us, and we also draw from good practices around the globe. So there is nothing that can stop us from being a good society, and there are always dangers that lurk behind. The second point to be made is to approach the problem methodically. If there is substance abuse it must have some concrete reasons. Without making moral judgements can we expose those reasons, and work on addressing the problem accordingly. For example, can we hold responsible the relevant departments on how things like heroine are available in our society. Can we ask the principles and head masters of our education institutions to ensure that students are present in the classes, and in case they are not, parents are instantly informed through messaging services. Can we ask the political parties to target poverty in our society so that a good life is ensured to the people across all economic segments. And can we finally ask the health department, and others, to prepare and interpret data in a way that it gives the actual picture and doesn’t mislead.