The growing problem of substance abuse in J&K Premium

Doctors, school authorities and the State government are searching for ways to curb the availability and use of drugs

Thirty-eight-year-old Kamran Ahmad (name changed) from Srinagar still gets goosebumps when he recalls the events that unfolded in the summer of 2022. A government employee, he had become a habitual user of heroin, he says, under peer influence. “I would take one to two grams of heroin per day,” recalls Ahmad.

To sustain the addiction, Ahmad sold his two cars and a shop, straining his relationship with his father, wife and child in the process. One day, his family decided to take him outside Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) for rehabilitation, to avoid social stigma. A drug de-addiction centre based in Chandigarh charged the family around ₹10,000 to pick up a reluctant Ahmad from Srinagar. An ambulance arrived with bouncers.

“I would get beaten up quite often at the centre, where I was kept in a dormitory-type facility. I was warned against breaking rules, like making noise or laughing loudly. If anyone did any of these things, the bouncers would punch them in the face. I was given no medication,” Ahmad says. He had two stints of rehab outside J&K.

According to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, an estimated 10 lakh residents in a population of 1.25 crore (or 8%) were drug addicts in J&K in 2019-20. The Ministry said that 1,08,000 men and 36,000 women were found abusing cannabis; 5,34,000 men and 8,000 women were found consuming opioids; 1,60,000 men and 8,000 women were found using sedatives of different kinds; and 1,27,000 men and 7,000 women were reported to be on inhalants.

It is clear that Kashmir is in the throes of a dangerous crisis. On the one hand, over three decades of conflict have left the population scarred, and mental illnesses are rampant in the Valley. “Substance use and poor mental health have a bidirectional impact,” says Dr. Yasir Rather, an Associate Professor at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences-Kashmir (IMHANS-K). “Poor mental health leads to substance use. Self-medication of benzodiazepine, codeine, etc. was prevalent till 2014. The latest trend shows use of hard-core drugs like heroin and cannabis.”

A mental health survey conducted in 2016 by the Médecins Sans Frontières and the Kashmir University suggested that 45% of people in the Valley faced distress, 41% adults had probable depression, 26% had probable anxiety and 19% had probable Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. “An adult living in the Kashmir Valley, on an average, has witnessed or experienced 7.7 traumatic events during their lifetime. While 93% of people experienced conflict-related trauma, 94% experienced trauma due to natural disasters,” the survey said.

On the other hand, exposure to the virtual world, especially addiction to social media, is acting as a force multiplier. Nazia Jan (name changed), 18, attends a college in Srinagar for her Bachelor of Arts degree. She hardly misses classes and her performance in examinations is up to the mark. There is nothing outward to suggest that she’s a heroin user.