In three years, Kashmir witnesses 1500% increase in drug abuse

Thousands of people, mostly youth, from Kashmir are slipping into the dark alleys of drug addiction as the Valley has been flooded with huge quantities of heroin coming via Line of Control (LoC) from Pakistan in recent years.

Doctors at drug de-addiction centre of Institute of Mental health & Neurosciences (IMHANS) in Srinagar said that the facility has been flooded with patients taking deadly drugs like heroin in the recent years.

The data revealed that there has been more than 1,500 per cent increase in patients approaching the hospital seeking treatment for substance abuse in three years. While 489 drug abusers had reported at the IMHANS in 2016, the number grew to 7,420 in 2019. In 2020, the number dropped to 3,536 apparently due to Covid-19 lockdown.

Similarly, the Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) registrations have also seen a steep rise at the IMHANS. From 139 patients seeking treatment between 2012-2015, the number grew to 309 in 2016-2019. But there has been a huge jump as 495 patients reported at the IMHANS de-addiction centre in 2020, while the number has already crossed 500 in just the first five months of this year.

Of the 309 patients who reported from 2016-2019, over 47 per cent were from urban areas, while over 52 per cent were from rural areas. 73.8 per cent among them were unmarried, while 35 per cent were up to the age of 25 years and over 53 per cent were in the age group of 26-35 years.

Dr Yasir Rather, in-charge of the de-addiction center of IMHANS, said that the pattern of drug abuse in Kashmir has changed over the years. “Most of the patients we have been receiving since 2018 are heroin addicts and there is a drastic increase in their numbers now,” he told DH.

Dr Rather, a consulting psychiatrist at Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar, and his team carried out a pilot study in 2020 to find the contours of substance abuse in Srinagar and Anantnag districts of the Valley.

The study titled "Pattern and prevalence of substance use and dependence in Kashmir: Special focus on Opioids" reveals that heroin is the most widely used opioid in the two districts.

As opioids are one of the costliest drugs and pose a serious threat of fuelling a criminal crisis, the study has estimated the economic burden of heroin abuse in the two districts based on prevalence and extrapolating findings. “The expenditure on consumption of opioids in two districts of Srinagar and Anantnag is Rs 3,74,90,329," notes the study, the first to deduct the costs of abuse in Kashmir's two districts.

Law enforcing agencies blame Pakistan for pumping huge quantities of narcotics into Kashmir. “Lot of drugs and narcotics are being pumped into the Valley from across the border. It is quite clear who is pumping drugs and narcotics here,” Inspector General of police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, said.

As per the J&K police data, in 2020, 36.08 kilograms of pure heroin and 49.7 kilograms of brown sugar were recovered from different parts of the Valley. North Kashmir districts of Kupwara and Baramulla, which share a border with Pakistan, accounted for 21.15 kgs and 7.60 kgs of heroin respectively recovered in 2020. Similarly, in the first five months of this year, over 25 kgs of heroin have been recovered by the police and security forces, mostly along the LoC.

Sources said a portion of the drugs coming from Pakistan via LoC are being sold in Kashmir, while a major portion is being transported into other states of India. “Trucks from Kashmir going towards Punjab are being used to transport the drugs coming from Pakistan,” they revealed.