There are various reasons for drug addiction. One of the main reasons in my opinion is unpleasant parts of one’s life that the addict is trying to cover up. The euphoric effect of the drugs makes one feel better for some time.
With time the tolerance of the drug increases, so the quantity is also increased by the addict, thus it tends to be a never-ending cycle of drug abuse which with time only gets worse if medical attention is not provided.
The addict chases drugs as if their life depended on them, which also leads to financial problems. They can also impair memory, decision-making, ability to learn, and judgment.
The drugs which are well known for their abuse and have serious health consequences need to be choked off completely in society by law enforcement agencies.
What we, as conscious citizens, can do is to make ourselves ready to fight it at home and outside. Initially, we can begin with two alternatives. One, to break the chain, and second to help prevent our kids from falling into this trap in the first place.
At home, parental care and supervision are a must. When a father sends his child to a local school or an educational institute outside Kashmir for his studies, there is a high risk of succumbing to peer pressure.
This is the most disseminated way of drug abuse, where there is a gigantic need for parental care. In their bid to seem cool and be accepted by their friends, a lot of youngsters can fall into this trap.
If a child is involved in drug abuse, his behavior and morphology change, he or she gets irritated quickly, tries to be in solitude and mental confusion is also common among other symptoms.
The responsibility of parents is to scrutinize and report to a doctor whenever they can confirm that their child is using drugs. In the same way, school, college, and university teachers, besides teaching routine subjects, should also report irregularity, long absence, or peculiar behavioral changes of the student to their parents.
Coordination between parents and teachers plays an important role in shaping and keeping our young generation updated through supervision and monitoring.
Notably, drug-addicted are not homeless, parentless but isolated individuals without parental care and supervision.
The inevitable question is, do we supervise our teens? Do we take an interest in their lives? Do we check their fields? Do we fulfill the responsibilities towards our teenagers? Do we put an effort to correct our children when they are in the wrong and how exactly do we do that? At the same time, we should not be spoiling our children either. These are important points we must keep in mind at the same time.
As per a recent report by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, there are more than six lakh drug abusers in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Institute of Mental Health (Kashmir) sees around 50 cases daily, with 95% of cases being heroin addicts. As per news reports, even kids as young as 10 years old have been found addicted to heroin in Kashmir.
This has spurred deep concern in the valley as well as the administration, with clerics, officials, and other stakeholders chalking out strategies to try and wean away people from drug abuse.
The efforts, though, have yielded little on the ground. More and more people continue to fall prey to substance abuse and their drug supply lines remain intact. Surveys have found rampant substance abuse among young people in the valley.
The police are now cracking down on drug peddlers but it seems that the war on drugs will not be effective until society too plays its part in stamping down this menace.
Let’s localize our fight against this epidemic which is shuttered our young youthfulness from the menace. This will also help reduce other crimes in society.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.