In a startling revelation, it has come to the fore that eight percent population in Jammu Kashmir is addicted to drugs with experts suggesting that the “only percentage that is known is the one that is being reported, seeks treatment, and that happens at an advanced stage.”
Nearly 10 lakh people in J&K use various types of drugs, according to statistics shared in the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Deccan Herald reported.
According to the 2011 census, J&K has 1.25 crore people.
The statistics show that in K-K, an estimated 1,08,000 males and 36,000 females were discovered using cannabis, while 5,34,000 males and 8,000 females were caught in the dragnet of opioids, and 1,60,000 males and 8,000 females were discovered using sedatives of various kinds.
According to Dr. Muhammad Maqbool Dar, Head of the Psychiatry Department at the Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, the drug abuse epidemic in Kashmir has broken through all previous barriers and is now widespread.
“We even receive cases from married people. It’s a serious public health issue that even young boys are becoming addicted to drugs and substances, he said.
Dr. Yasir Rather, a professor of psychiatry at IMHANS Srinagar, claims that the rise in heroin abusers may be to blame for Kashmir’s rising crime rate, with users turning to burglary and even murder out of desperation.
“The major causes of the drug menace in Kashmir are growing financial distress and the tidal wave of uncertainty that defines a conflict region,” he told the newspaper, Deccan Herald.
In the past, drug addicts came from particular neighbourhoods and districts, but now, according to Dr. Rather, “these patients were coming from every nook and cranny of Kashmir.”
“We also treat patients from wealthy families. Drug abuse is a problem among professionals as well as the uneducated and the educated. Right now, the situation is alarming, he said.