'We received patients as young as eight': Kashmir's drug problem
Kashmir Updates - Aijaz Nazir - July, 18 2019
Boys and young men are turning to hard drugs such as heroin, as efforts to raid poppy fields do little to stem crisis. Anantnag, Indian-administered Kashmir – Reyaz* hides under a restaurant stairway, in a village about 36 miles (57.9km) south of Srinagar, to take a hit of heroin, sniffing it through a 10 rupee note.
“I went mad for this dose. I was searching for a place where I can take this. It keeps me fit for few hours and when the need arises again, I feel uneasy and have fever and chills,” he told Al Jazeera.
Reyaz, 24, has been addicted for two years having been introduced to the drug by friends.
He spends around $37 a day on his habit.
“I have never faced the scarcity of drugs, ever since I started taking them. It’s freely available as long as you have the money.”
In Kashmir today, a growing number of young men are becoming addicted.
It is not clear how many exactly, but doctors and experts estimate the number to be in the high hundreds at least.
And according to data from a rehabilitation centre at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital, a state-funded facility in Srinagar, the crisis is escalating.
Last year, the centre treated more than 600 people for addiction. Most patients were aged between 15 and 30, and 80 percent were heroin users.
There are three further drug rehabilitation centres in Kashmir.
“We have received patients as young as eight years old in our centre,” said Arshad Hussain, a professor of mental health and neurosciences from Kashmir, who works in Shri Maharaja Hari Singh.
“There are multiple reasons for the drug problem, which include lack of awareness, easy availability, peer pressure and living in a conflict zone.”
He explained that some Kashmiris cope with the uncertainty, trauma and anxiety created by the day-to-day conflict by using drugs.
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