Aijaz Rasool
Drug Addiction is a hot topic for all the people of our country. It is one of the biggest problems in contemporary times as it is burgeoningat very large scale particularly among the teenagers. A drug is any substance (with the exception of food and water) which, when taken into the body, alters the body’s function either physically and/or psychologically. Drugs are essentially pain killers and/or defense mechanism. It is temporary and illusionary escape from or way to cope with realities of life. The numbing effects of drugs become a solution to discomfort.They become fully addicted and lose the ability to control his drug use. Diverse reasons are found for a teenager to get addicted- from just curiously and a tendency to experiment with it. It may be expression of revolt against established authority, a way of gaining recognition in his group or influence of friends, failure of teenage love or family problem and like others.It ruins families, destroys relationships, hurts physically, affects mental health and so forth. Abrar, a drug addict in our locality daily beats his parents even sister and many times he molested his mother and sister. When he could not arrange money for drugs then he theft the cattle’s, shops and even do not spare the holy places. The main types of addiction are- heroin, opium, morphine, inhalants, brown sugar, cocaine, diazepam, marijuana (ganja), hash oil, tobacco, alcohol etc. It was recently reported that 17,000 people abuse heroin in Srinagar and Anantnag. In another report 5000 drug addicts visit OPD at drug de-addiction center annually. Conflict and unemployment are found main reasons for drug addiction among the youth in Kashmir. Drug abuse can lead to lung and cardiovascular disease, stroke, various kinds of cancer like mouth, throat etc, HIV/AIDS, and Hepatitis B and C, impaired judgment and lack of sleep are found among drug addicts.
Addiction takes our money, addiction ruins health, addiction ruins mind, addiction can change who are we, addiction can hurt other people, addiction can put us in jail, etc. So, it is our duty as responsible citizens to work together so that we can make our society drug free.
Drug addicts worry aboutaddiction which leads to stealing, lying, excessive absences from public gaze. Depression, anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, and insomnia, financial recession are common among them. They suffer from a short temper, lack of patience, decreased interest in others. Accidents burglary, molestation, assault, and other harmful behaviors are much more common among those abusing drugs. WHO on the Worlds No Tobacco Day revealed that, “tobacco products kills over 8 million people every year and creates 8 million new gaps in the market. It persists its growth aggressively like the diseases it causes”. Humaira, my tertiary relative, is suffering from kidney problem due to which she got addicted to drugs to ease the pain. A stage reached when she got married and numerous times her in-laws complained against her addiction and was shackled to keep away her from addiction and finally got divorced due to the addiction. Now she is dependent on his sole ailing father and is suffering from weight loss, depression, isolation, rejection and stigmatization. Her conditioning is deteriorating gradually. In Kashmir many cases are like Abrar and Humaira who ruined their lives due to the addiction. The need of the hour is to get drug abusers familiar about the consequences of addiction by different means like- social media, telecast and/or broadcast through T.V and Radio. As community members we need to disseminate this information among masses particularly drug abusers on voluntarily basis. There are various other ways of addiction that can ruin our life. Addiction takes our money, addiction ruins health, addiction ruins mind, addiction can change who are we, addiction can hurt other people, addiction can put us in jail, etc. So, it is our duty as responsible citizens to work together so that we can make our society drug free.
(The author is pursuing Master’s Degree in Social Work at University of Kashmir. Views are his own) [email protected]
