Our society is already devastated by the conflict. People living under the shadow of violence have seen a tremendous rise in drug addiction, the silent predator that is consuming the young breed silently. This menace that the young breed engulfed in is silently robbing families off the dear ones. We have seen people on and off writing on this issue.
Workshops, and debates are being organized, but then nothing concrete comes out. We have been caught in such turbulent times that our young generation instead of spending on daily needs, silently opt for drugs. They do collect it, puff it and sniff it and escape into a deceptive world.
This temporary psychological escape and relaxation encourages them for more and more, again and again. An adult individual neglecting their responsibilities as a result of drugs negatively affects their own lot like career, family relations and most importantly the state of peaceful mind. The substance abuse has not only led to health constraints but isolation and even on occasions, criminalization.
When one falls prey to the trap of drugs and becomes an addict there comes a time that craving for the substance makes him to loot, go for petty thefts even in his own family just to satiate the dirty desire. These things have brought shame, violence, crime, devastation with them, and the worst that is yet to come – more deaths.
The death of two young men last year in south Kashmir’s Anantnag town is a perfect example how we all have failed in tackling the rise of this addiction. It has raised some serious questions about our inability to tackle this menace.
There is an apparent link between crime and drug addiction, that’s mainly contributed to it. The problem we are dealing with is complex because it affects all the facets of one’s personality and renders the person dysfunctional; and more importantly how the society sees such people as a burden.
The type of crimes that an individual commits when on drugs is extensive and depends upon a variety of factors. Here in Kashmir political unrest, unemployment, conflict stress may not be a cause of how young men have fallen into the trap of drugs, but yes, the easy availability of drugs is certainly one of the most important reasons of growing addiction in the valley.
This silent predator is a bigger challenge to the society then anything else, because the future leaders of the nation have fallen prey to this. According to a report published by United Nation Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) in 2017, around 70 thousand people in the valley have fallen prey to drug addiction out of which 31 percent are women. With years passing this drug abuse has been going up in the graph. It has shot higher and higher.
Questions have time and again raised. Ww have headlines of police and administration flashing, claiming destroying bung, large cultivation of poppy. We even have a separate wing to address cases of drug abuse. After all this, how come this substance abuse still prevails.
Why doesn’t it cease? When the establishment can find a militant or a stone-pelter responsible for an attack or deterioration of law and order within hours then what is the excuse for not finding a drug dealer who is more dangerous to a society. The answer to these questions are awaited. Stringent laws need to be put in place, mobilization by the drug control department needs more focus, and keeping an eye on on the whole scene is the need of hour.
Salman Jeelani is a student of B.A Hons English Literature.