Kashmir is one of the beautiful destinations with stunning beauty and ravishing meadows. This region is socially and religiously diverse with distant culture compared to the other states of the country. The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir always remains in the news both at the National and International level for different reasons. Among these causes, the topmost reason is the conflict that has been going on since 1988. This conflict has torn the social, political and ecological system of the valley.
In addition to this conflict and the violent activities through which Kashmir always garnishes the headlines of the print as well as electronic media. But this time in addition to violent based activities Kashmir is in the news due the growing cases of drug addiction among the new generation. No doubt Kashmir is a conflict area and this conflict has adversely impacted the behavior of the natives. Several studies documented how the local natives are submerged in the depression and which in turn gives birth to several mental health issues in the valley.
The youth, and adolescents breathed in social stress environment that makes them vulnerable to the crime-based activities. To cope with the stress the youth and adolescents indulge and get infected by drug addiction. This is the stage when these types of persons need proper guidance and counselling. They believe that this drug addiction gives them relief from their depression. In this way slowly these persons get fully infected by this drug addiction infection.
After that, the person becomes the living bomb and lethal virus for the family as well as the community. This drug controls the human brain which results in when he or she did not get the drug dose then the person starts to do crimes like theft. This drug addiction also destroys the carrier of the person and turns the person into a slave of these drugs.
This drug addiction destroys the consciousness of the youth of the valley and also turns them into a body without consciousness destroying the generation as well.. Reports are coming that not only males consuming drugs but females are also. So we need to think about this otherwise Kashmir will see an uncontrolled drug pandemic that will impact every household. Before this happens we need to use the integrated approach that raises the voice against this drug addiction infection.
Earlier it was Punjab that was infected by this drug addiction virus now reports are coming that Kashmir has left behind Punjab in this drug addiction case. Because of this, we see how the Kashmiri society is suffering from many diseases. The outcome of these social diseases we see from last October 2022 when the Son killed his mother in south Kashmir and as per reports he was drug addicted. The second incident occurred on the Pahalgam side when the drug-addicted person killed four people including his mother. Same thing happened in North Kashmir. Due to the fear of drug addicts, some parents requested the administration that their son should be imprisoned to shield their lives and the people living in their surrounding areas.
Way forward: To curb this drug threat the government needs to establish social Mohalla clinics, in the risk areas. First, there must be social mapping and those areas and villages must be identified where drug addictions reports were maximum reported. After this, the administration should establish Social Mohalla clinics. Under these social Mohalla clinics, the local committees and panchayats at the village level must be involved. These social Mohalla clinics should use the hybrid approach by involving the local religious preachers, retired teachers, persons from the Awqaf committee and educated persons to curb the drug threat from the area. The functions of this Mohalla social clinic should be monitoring, counselling and treatment at the local level.
The administration should design an annual honour for those villages or areas that will work effectively in this fight against drugs. This annual honour will motivate the other social Mohalla clinics as well to work with strong enthusiasm and dedication.
One more thing religious scholars should start to deliver lectures on Friday and local Masjids on this deadly issue of drug addiction. It is not time to discuss the issues in which there are disagreements in these Masjids however, it is the time and our collective responsibility to save the future generation of the valley from drug infection.
The main question is how suddenly the drug-consumed population increased in the valley day by day. We being responsible citizens must think about how this drug addiction virus should be restricted and vanish from Kashmiri society. We also need to develop networks in every town and village and discuss all the paths and designed approaches that will be used to restrain this drug addiction peril.
Author can be reached at farooqmajeed19@gmail.com
