BREAKING NEWS
Abused substances not only alter brain function in ways that perpetuate craving, and weakens self-control but can also cause heart disease, liver damage, and other physical problems. It causes loss of ability to make rational decisions and takes precedence over everything else – career, family, loved ones, friends and even civic sense
What is Drug Abuse and Drug Addiction ?
Drug abuse is a chronic or habitual use of any chemical substance to alter states of body or mind for other than medically warranted purposes. Drug abuse is relatively an old term encompassing the use of drugs for psychotropic (affecting brain function) rather than medical purposes. Among the most common psychotropic drugs are opiates (opium, morphine, and heroin), hallucinogens (LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin), barbiturates, cocaine, amphetamines, tranquilizers, and cannabis. Alcohol and tobacco are also sometimes classified as drugs. The term 'drug abuse' is normally applied to excessive and addictive use of drugs as such drugs can have severe physiological and psychological, as well as social, effects.
Abused substances not only alter brain function in ways that perpetuate craving, and weakens self-control but can also cause heart disease, liver damage, and other physical problems. It causes loss of ability to make rational decisions and takes precedence over everything else – career, family, loved ones, friends and even civic sense. Most people start to take drugs for experiment, fun and curiosity while some succumb to peer-pressure. Some people misuse life saving medicines as drugs.
Drug Addiction is the compulsive nature of the drug use despite physical and/ or psychological harm to the user and society. It includes both alcohol and inhalants that can fit the addictive profile. Drug Addiction affects a person's brain functions and behavior. Drug addiction is a pattern marked both by tolerance and psychic and physical dependence.
Drug Addiction: As a Serious Global Problem
Drug addiction has not emerged as a serious problem in all parts of the world and it has affected a huge number of people across the nations. The problem is spreading like a wild fire and continuously engulfing a huge number of the promising youth of the human society. According to reliable data, there are millions of drug addicts (more than 296 million people in 2021) throughout the world and there has been a rampant increase in numbers over the decades. According to a report, there are 3.1 crore cannabis users in India which is 2.8% of the population. Alcohol is the most commonly used legal psychoactive substance, with about 14.6 % of population using it.
Serious Condition in Kashmir
The United Nations International Drug Control Programme survey in 2008 showed that there were more than 70,000 drug addicts in Kashmir, including 4000 women addicts. The survey also revealed that 65 to 70 percent of the student community in Kashmir is taking drugs and 26 percent of female students have also fallen in this trap. More than 70 percent of addicts fall in the age group of 18-35 years.
According to a report published in a local daily on 2nd Feb, 2016, over 2 00,000 people in Kashmir were on opiates and two government hospitals received 69,434 drug addict patients between April and December 2015.
A BBC report of 2023 reveals that millions of lives are being ruined by drug addiction in Kashmir. The Indian government conducted a survey in march 2023, which revealed that there are more than one million drug addicts in Jammu and Kashmir, including more than one lakh women.
As per the data, in average, a drug addict is hospitalized after every 12 minutes in Kashmir.
According to another study carried out in Kashmir, Opioids were the most common substance used, among which heroin had the highest number of cases, while cannabis was found to be the second most common substance (47 percent).
Tramadol (18.9 percent), codeine (3.7 percent), and tapentadol (1.8 percent) were the other opioids used.
Among heroin users, 42.3 percent were Injectable Drug Users (IDUs) while in the rest of the cases heroin was perpetuated by smoking (57.7 percent).
Smoking was also the mode of substance abuse among all patients of cannabis use in this study (100 percent).
It was revealed that Kashmir valley in particular is becoming a drug hub. A recent study by the Government Medical College's Psychiatry department has revealed that Kashmir has surpassed Punjab in drug abuse cases and is currently at the number two position among the top drug abuser states in India. The North East tops the drug abuser list.
The facts and observations like this are very alarming and if immediate measures are not taken, we may lose our youth completely. The evil of drug addiction has entered in almost all parts of the Valley and almost in every village and town there is a hidden mafia of drug suppliers and the youth go on falling prey to their nefarious designs.
Reasons behind this rampant drug addiction can be many, like three decades of turmoil that have resulted in an increase of psychiatric illnesses, psychological disturbances and the anxiety caused due to increased unemployment among the educated youth. The youth has become the target of major drug peddlers. These peddlers sell drugs and package them as symbols of revolution and freshness but have no regard for the consequences of their actions. Youth taking drugs are more likely to commit suicide. Misinformation about drugs is another danger — the addict or user may take the drugs in wrong doses, which can then lead to a fatality.
Drug addiction among the youth is killing them morally and socially, as well as psychologically and even physically. And, those dealing in drugs are becoming increasingly wealthier. Drugs addiction is harmful not only for the addicted but also has negative impact on the fabric of the society. The effects of such an addiction can cause dangerous changes in the mind, body and spirit of the drug addict.
The most disturbing aspect of drug addiction is that it is reaching epidemic proportions here. People in our part of the world are increasingly becoming addicted to all kinds of drugs. The worst thing about being addicted to drugs is that it is affecting the youth in every part of the world in a major way. The trouble starts among the school-going children but the problem is intensified with abetment by those who wish to earn money out of selling drugs. The problem among children and youth arises because of a perception that they seem to harbour the notion of their inadequacy for failing to measure up to their expectations of their elders.
The price of drugs can be very heavy. Simple ill-effects of such addiction include physical itchiness, coma and even premature death. On the other hand, the psychological ill effects can make a person become completely dependent on taking drugs in order to survive.The scars and wounds on the skin of the drug addicts are just external manifestations of cicatrics and blemishes of the brain. It turns youthfulness into doddering, beauty into ugliness and the ultimate destinations are severe mental illnesses and sudden deaths.
Fighting Drug Addiction
It is the time that society and the government take firm stand on preventing the drug addiction through a mix of reforms. There should be a community plan to stop addiction to drugs. This plan must identify the specific drugs that youth are using. It should build on existing resources such as existing drug abuse prevention programs and it should also develop short-term goals relevant to proper implementation of research-based drug abuse prevention programs. In fact, all preventive measures need to address different forms of drug abuse and addiction and should also target different types of drug abuse and addictions. It should also be tailored to address risks that are specific to certain populations or audience characteristics. It must be aimed at specific populations and at major transition points such as at middle and secondary school levels. The outreach of different active NGOs of the valley needs to be fully utilized for proper community awareness.
Since the majority of people here are Muslims, various religious platforms should be fully used for the eradication of this evil. Preachers, Imams and other religious organizations need to be sensitized and involved to attain the desired results. In Islam, all kinds of intoxicants are forbidden. Narrated Daylam al-Himyari: I asked the Prophet and said: “‘Messenger of Allah! We live in a cold land in which we do heavy work, and we make a liquor from wheat to get strength from it for our work and to stand the cold of our country’. The Prophet asked: ‘Is it intoxicating?’ I replied: ‘Yes’. He said: ‘You must avoid it’. I said: ‘The people will not abandon it’. The Prophet said: ‘If they do not abandon it, fight with them’.” (Abu Dawood: 3683)
The Holy Prophet (SAW) declared, “Allah has cursed ‘Khamr’ (intoxicants), and the one who drinks it and the one who serves it and the one who sells it and the one who buys it and the one who extracts it and the one who carried it and the one for whom it is carried.” In other words, we can say that all those people are cursed who have any kind of association with wine or any other intoxicant whatsoever.
It is reported that in one of his Friday sermons, the Caliph Hazrat Umar (RA) defined ‘Khamr’ as anything that hinders the faculty of thinking.
Unless serious measures are taken now, the very future of a large number of today’s youth will be severely compromised. The problem of drug addiction is too real and serious to be ignored. The governments need to involve communities and media in highlighting the perils associated with the drug addiction. Media has a responsibility to highlight such issues with a view to educating people and building a consensus among them to forge a united stand against such scourges. Frequent community awareness programes need to be conducted so that the parents and other responsible citizens are fully aware of all the matters regarding the problem.
26th of June, under the aegis of the United Nations, is observed as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse. It is celebrated to strengthen efforts in order to achieve the goal of making the society free of drug abuse and drug addiction.
A significant number of awareness programs are conducted on this day worldwide to share research findings and solutions to this problem. Keeping in view, the seriousness of the problem, the Government of India has launched " Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA)" a flagship compaign to enhance the evidence-based approach towards substance abuse. It encompasses a plethora of activities to eradicate drug addiction from Indian society.
Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan intends to reach out to the masses and spread awareness about substance abuse through various activities like:
1.Awareness generation programmes Focus on higher educational Institutions, university campuses and schools
2.Reaching out into the Community and identifying dependent population 3. Focus on counseling and treatment facilities in hospitals and rehabilitation centres which have been geo-tagged
4.Capacity building programmes for the officials and activists
Need of the Hour
Moreover, the full modus operandi of the drug suppliers needs to be exposed before the people so that they may not take an advantage of the ignorance of the people. . Individual efforts cannot produce desired results; so the whole community needs to be taken along to fight this menace.
An Appeal to our Youth
Always remind yourselves again and again that drugs provide a moment of pleasure but a lifetime of pain. Drugs drag you down, be smart and don’t start. Giving up doesn’t always mean that you are weak. It means you are strong and smart enough to let it go. Drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with your self-esteem.
Email:--------------------imtiyazaafreen@gmail.com
Abused substances not only alter brain function in ways that perpetuate craving, and weakens self-control but can also cause heart disease, liver damage, and other physical problems. It causes loss of ability to make rational decisions and takes precedence over everything else – career, family, loved ones, friends and even civic sense
What is Drug Abuse and Drug Addiction ?
Drug abuse is a chronic or habitual use of any chemical substance to alter states of body or mind for other than medically warranted purposes. Drug abuse is relatively an old term encompassing the use of drugs for psychotropic (affecting brain function) rather than medical purposes. Among the most common psychotropic drugs are opiates (opium, morphine, and heroin), hallucinogens (LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin), barbiturates, cocaine, amphetamines, tranquilizers, and cannabis. Alcohol and tobacco are also sometimes classified as drugs. The term 'drug abuse' is normally applied to excessive and addictive use of drugs as such drugs can have severe physiological and psychological, as well as social, effects.
Abused substances not only alter brain function in ways that perpetuate craving, and weakens self-control but can also cause heart disease, liver damage, and other physical problems. It causes loss of ability to make rational decisions and takes precedence over everything else – career, family, loved ones, friends and even civic sense. Most people start to take drugs for experiment, fun and curiosity while some succumb to peer-pressure. Some people misuse life saving medicines as drugs.
Drug Addiction is the compulsive nature of the drug use despite physical and/ or psychological harm to the user and society. It includes both alcohol and inhalants that can fit the addictive profile. Drug Addiction affects a person's brain functions and behavior. Drug addiction is a pattern marked both by tolerance and psychic and physical dependence.
Drug Addiction: As a Serious Global Problem
Drug addiction has not emerged as a serious problem in all parts of the world and it has affected a huge number of people across the nations. The problem is spreading like a wild fire and continuously engulfing a huge number of the promising youth of the human society. According to reliable data, there are millions of drug addicts (more than 296 million people in 2021) throughout the world and there has been a rampant increase in numbers over the decades. According to a report, there are 3.1 crore cannabis users in India which is 2.8% of the population. Alcohol is the most commonly used legal psychoactive substance, with about 14.6 % of population using it.
Serious Condition in Kashmir
The United Nations International Drug Control Programme survey in 2008 showed that there were more than 70,000 drug addicts in Kashmir, including 4000 women addicts. The survey also revealed that 65 to 70 percent of the student community in Kashmir is taking drugs and 26 percent of female students have also fallen in this trap. More than 70 percent of addicts fall in the age group of 18-35 years.
According to a report published in a local daily on 2nd Feb, 2016, over 2 00,000 people in Kashmir were on opiates and two government hospitals received 69,434 drug addict patients between April and December 2015.
A BBC report of 2023 reveals that millions of lives are being ruined by drug addiction in Kashmir. The Indian government conducted a survey in march 2023, which revealed that there are more than one million drug addicts in Jammu and Kashmir, including more than one lakh women.
As per the data, in average, a drug addict is hospitalized after every 12 minutes in Kashmir.
According to another study carried out in Kashmir, Opioids were the most common substance used, among which heroin had the highest number of cases, while cannabis was found to be the second most common substance (47 percent).
Tramadol (18.9 percent), codeine (3.7 percent), and tapentadol (1.8 percent) were the other opioids used.
Among heroin users, 42.3 percent were Injectable Drug Users (IDUs) while in the rest of the cases heroin was perpetuated by smoking (57.7 percent).
Smoking was also the mode of substance abuse among all patients of cannabis use in this study (100 percent).
It was revealed that Kashmir valley in particular is becoming a drug hub. A recent study by the Government Medical College's Psychiatry department has revealed that Kashmir has surpassed Punjab in drug abuse cases and is currently at the number two position among the top drug abuser states in India. The North East tops the drug abuser list.
The facts and observations like this are very alarming and if immediate measures are not taken, we may lose our youth completely. The evil of drug addiction has entered in almost all parts of the Valley and almost in every village and town there is a hidden mafia of drug suppliers and the youth go on falling prey to their nefarious designs.
Reasons behind this rampant drug addiction can be many, like three decades of turmoil that have resulted in an increase of psychiatric illnesses, psychological disturbances and the anxiety caused due to increased unemployment among the educated youth. The youth has become the target of major drug peddlers. These peddlers sell drugs and package them as symbols of revolution and freshness but have no regard for the consequences of their actions. Youth taking drugs are more likely to commit suicide. Misinformation about drugs is another danger — the addict or user may take the drugs in wrong doses, which can then lead to a fatality.
Drug addiction among the youth is killing them morally and socially, as well as psychologically and even physically. And, those dealing in drugs are becoming increasingly wealthier. Drugs addiction is harmful not only for the addicted but also has negative impact on the fabric of the society. The effects of such an addiction can cause dangerous changes in the mind, body and spirit of the drug addict.
The most disturbing aspect of drug addiction is that it is reaching epidemic proportions here. People in our part of the world are increasingly becoming addicted to all kinds of drugs. The worst thing about being addicted to drugs is that it is affecting the youth in every part of the world in a major way. The trouble starts among the school-going children but the problem is intensified with abetment by those who wish to earn money out of selling drugs. The problem among children and youth arises because of a perception that they seem to harbour the notion of their inadequacy for failing to measure up to their expectations of their elders.
The price of drugs can be very heavy. Simple ill-effects of such addiction include physical itchiness, coma and even premature death. On the other hand, the psychological ill effects can make a person become completely dependent on taking drugs in order to survive.The scars and wounds on the skin of the drug addicts are just external manifestations of cicatrics and blemishes of the brain. It turns youthfulness into doddering, beauty into ugliness and the ultimate destinations are severe mental illnesses and sudden deaths.
Fighting Drug Addiction
It is the time that society and the government take firm stand on preventing the drug addiction through a mix of reforms. There should be a community plan to stop addiction to drugs. This plan must identify the specific drugs that youth are using. It should build on existing resources such as existing drug abuse prevention programs and it should also develop short-term goals relevant to proper implementation of research-based drug abuse prevention programs. In fact, all preventive measures need to address different forms of drug abuse and addiction and should also target different types of drug abuse and addictions. It should also be tailored to address risks that are specific to certain populations or audience characteristics. It must be aimed at specific populations and at major transition points such as at middle and secondary school levels. The outreach of different active NGOs of the valley needs to be fully utilized for proper community awareness.
Since the majority of people here are Muslims, various religious platforms should be fully used for the eradication of this evil. Preachers, Imams and other religious organizations need to be sensitized and involved to attain the desired results. In Islam, all kinds of intoxicants are forbidden. Narrated Daylam al-Himyari: I asked the Prophet and said: “‘Messenger of Allah! We live in a cold land in which we do heavy work, and we make a liquor from wheat to get strength from it for our work and to stand the cold of our country’. The Prophet asked: ‘Is it intoxicating?’ I replied: ‘Yes’. He said: ‘You must avoid it’. I said: ‘The people will not abandon it’. The Prophet said: ‘If they do not abandon it, fight with them’.” (Abu Dawood: 3683)
The Holy Prophet (SAW) declared, “Allah has cursed ‘Khamr’ (intoxicants), and the one who drinks it and the one who serves it and the one who sells it and the one who buys it and the one who extracts it and the one who carried it and the one for whom it is carried.” In other words, we can say that all those people are cursed who have any kind of association with wine or any other intoxicant whatsoever.
It is reported that in one of his Friday sermons, the Caliph Hazrat Umar (RA) defined ‘Khamr’ as anything that hinders the faculty of thinking.
Unless serious measures are taken now, the very future of a large number of today’s youth will be severely compromised. The problem of drug addiction is too real and serious to be ignored. The governments need to involve communities and media in highlighting the perils associated with the drug addiction. Media has a responsibility to highlight such issues with a view to educating people and building a consensus among them to forge a united stand against such scourges. Frequent community awareness programes need to be conducted so that the parents and other responsible citizens are fully aware of all the matters regarding the problem.
26th of June, under the aegis of the United Nations, is observed as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse. It is celebrated to strengthen efforts in order to achieve the goal of making the society free of drug abuse and drug addiction.
A significant number of awareness programs are conducted on this day worldwide to share research findings and solutions to this problem. Keeping in view, the seriousness of the problem, the Government of India has launched " Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA)" a flagship compaign to enhance the evidence-based approach towards substance abuse. It encompasses a plethora of activities to eradicate drug addiction from Indian society.
Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan intends to reach out to the masses and spread awareness about substance abuse through various activities like:
1.Awareness generation programmes Focus on higher educational Institutions, university campuses and schools
2.Reaching out into the Community and identifying dependent population 3. Focus on counseling and treatment facilities in hospitals and rehabilitation centres which have been geo-tagged
4.Capacity building programmes for the officials and activists
Need of the Hour
Moreover, the full modus operandi of the drug suppliers needs to be exposed before the people so that they may not take an advantage of the ignorance of the people. . Individual efforts cannot produce desired results; so the whole community needs to be taken along to fight this menace.
An Appeal to our Youth
Always remind yourselves again and again that drugs provide a moment of pleasure but a lifetime of pain. Drugs drag you down, be smart and don’t start. Giving up doesn’t always mean that you are weak. It means you are strong and smart enough to let it go. Drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with your self-esteem.
Email:--------------------imtiyazaafreen@gmail.com
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