Udta Dilli: Cheap drugs snuff out young lives

Farhan Abbasi, 17, shivers as he talks about how his life has been ruined. He has been injecting himself with smack for three years. He needs it twice a day. When he does not get his doses, he suffers from insomnia and excruciating pain in the stomach. On such days, he is even ready to commit crimes. “I do not care if the world burns to ashes, I need my nasha,” he says with an air of indifference.

Abbasi is one of the 1,414 people, aged between 7 and 40 years, recently surveyed for drug abuse in northeast Delhi’s Seemapuri. As high as 80 per cent turned out to be drug addicts. Half of those surveyed were minors.

The survey was conducted by an NGO, Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM), after an order from the Juvenile Justice Board’s Principal Magistrate, Arul Verma. It confirmed that every household in the neighbourhood has at least one person addicted to some sort of a drug other than tobacco.

Abbasi lives with his father and elder brother. During his bouts of drug craving, he ends up beating his father for money. He is aware that addiction is not good for health. He talks about the weight loss he has suffered in the last few months, and the household items he has stolen to buy smack.

He wants to look good in the mirror, but all he sees is a lanky body; it makes him want to go back to his nasha. “I cannot arrange money for food, but I know how to get my supplies. Rag-picking gives good money... sometimes mobile or chain snatchings are the other options. Yahan to roj kaun khodna hai, roz paani peena hai,” he says.

The trigger 

Seemapuri is not the only locality high on drugs. The city has emerged as one of India's main transit points for illegal drug trade. In 2016, Delhi recorded the highest number of drug seizures in the country, data tabled in the Lok Sabha in March this year showed. Early this year, a government survey revealed that 70,000 children in Delhi were drug addicts. Officials say cocaine, the white powder that addicts snort, is another drug which is high in demand. 

After continuous cases of drug abuse among juveniles from Seemapuri, Verma had asked Delhi’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Department of Women and Child Development, besides the Police Commissioner and NGO SPYM to look into the matter and submit their reports. 

SPYM submitted its survey, the Police Commissioner submitted a report laying stress on awareness and training programmes for its officers investigating drug abuse cases. DGHS talked about opening up of more de-addiction centres in government hospitals. But the underlying problem remains. Drug supplies continue as demands are rising.

Lives ruined

Peer pressure and easy accessibility are some of the reasons leading to drug addiction at a young age. Hemant Kumar, 19, has been addicted to smack for over six years. He first got a shot at a "party" with some elder children from his neighbourhood. He was sent to to his hometown Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh to live with his grandparents in a bid to keep him away from the vice. The pains were too difficult for him to bear. He would often break household items. Soon, he ran away from there. 

“We also got an autorickshaw on lease for him to drive and earn, but everything he earned during the day would go into buying drugs at night. One day, he also sold the vehicle, leaving us in debt,” said his mother, Usha Rani.

Brown sugar or smack is an adulterated form of heroin. Each dose costs Rs 300-350 and most addicts take at least two doses a day. They mostly travel to Old Delhi's Mori Gate or Daryaganj to fetch it. An addict needs over Rs 800 for his daily need. Since most of these young people in Seemapuri come from poor backgrounds, petty crimes become their everyday routine to keep the supplies going. Kumar started with sniffing glue and eating Iodex. But soon, he needed more.

Larger picture

Noted child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2014, seeking a direction to the central government to tackle the spiralling crisis of child drug abuse. In 2016, he asked for a complete national survey in six months and a comprehensive plan in another four months. In December, the court ordered the government to frame a national action plan in six months to control drug abuse among people under 21. The government is yet to file its report. 

“Increased substance abuse among children and drug trafficking are the largest organised crimes in India today. It is perpetuated through a lack of concerted police action against drug cartels and distributors and a lack of proper rehabilitation facilities and mental health support,” says Bhuwan Ribhu of Bachpan Bachao Andolan. “What we need for immediate remedial attention is setting up of more de-addiction centres".

Sporadic action

In 2016, the city’s drugs control department raided 16 chemist shops, mostly in northwest Delhi's Mahindra Park area, and canceled their licences for stocking drugs in huge quantities. In June and July this year, multiple raids happened in Seemapuri and adjoining Seelampur. More licences were cancelled. "Once we cancel a licence, we never reissue it to the same person or anyone on the same premises," says drugs control officer Atul Nasa.

At a recent conference conducted by AIIMS, Randeep Guleria, Medical Director, and Rakesh Chadda, Chief of Department of Psychiatry and National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), talked about substance use disorder becoming a major health problem in India. Earlier this year, NDDTC started a specialised course in addiction psychiatry to help young drug-addicts.

“The average mental health professional is bludgeoned today by new issues and challenges that necessitate refreshing and updating professional knowledge and skills,” says Chadda. “The latest updates in the increased use of e-cigarettes among youth and the new psychoactive substances, i.e. designer drugs, which are not controlled legally and yet possess significant addiction potential, are creating controversies too,” he adds.

Women addicts

While there are many drug rehabilitation centres and night shelters for men in the country, women drug addicts struggle to find a dedicated place. Women addicts do not visit common de-addiction centres due to the so-called stigma, safety issues and rules that say they must be accompanied by an attendant.

At NDDTC, there is a special ward for women drug addicts, the only government one in Delhi-NCR. But admission is not allowed in the absence of a family member. Most addicts, either without families or abandoned by them, don't get treatment. 

Biliya, 40, has been at SPYM's women rehabilitation centre in Old Delhi's Parda Bagh. It is the only non-government centre, which provides help to women addicts without any such conditions. But even that has only 20 beds and the number of addicts coming in is huge. 

A drug addict for two decades, Biliya came for rehab on her own 20 days ago. She and her homeless partner have been giving each other smack injections since they met on a Connaught Place street several years ago. Their daughter was born addicted to drugs.

“I have been without drugs since I came here. I cannot come to terms with the kind of life I have lived. I have seen people around me die; all those who used to take injections with me are dead now. I remember, when I had cravings but no money... I would bang my head on walls… my then 5-year-old daughter would cross the street to beg to the peddler to give some smack for free to help me. The image of her bringing me my dose still haunts me,” says Biliya. 

She says she had a crazy life on the streets. “In the night, after getting high, men would fill syringes with my blood and splash it on the walls to make weird patterns. I had enough of it.”

When her daughter turned seven, NGO workers counselled Biliya to send her to ‘Nirmal Chhaya’ under the Delhi government's Department of Women and Child Development so that she could stay away from that life. Now eight years later, her daughter is helping others at the centre. When Biliya visited her a few months ago, still high on smack, the daughter refused to meet or acknowledge her. This made a huge impact on her and she decided to finally take a hold of her life and opted for treatment.

The AIIMS facilities

NDDTC at AIIMS runs daily outpatient services, has a number of special clinics and three community outreach clinics in Sundar Nagari, Trilok Puri and Kotla Mubarakpur. During April 2016-March 2017, NDDTC attended to more than 9,000 new patients at the main centres and community clinics.

The drugs 

Brown sugar or smack is an adulterated form of heroin. Each dose costs Rs 300-350 and most addicts take at least two doses a day. They mostly travel to Old Delhi’s Mori Gate or Daryaganj to fetch it. Drugs used by children include, alcohol, cannabis, inhalants, pharmaceutical opioids, heroin and prescription sedatives.

Points to ponder

Triggers
Easy availability 
Peer pressure
Family influence
No escape mechanism for personal problems

Procurement 
Pharmacy: Avil, injections
Scrap dealers sell silochan, local name of a drug
Sahasi community: women sellers hiding drugs in saree, dupatta
Bangladeshi migrants who are difficult to identify

Prices of drugs
INhaler (maximum consumption): common names nimo, fruit, fruity. Easily available at Rs 50 in the form of glue, thinner, rubber adhesive, Iodex, tar pin oil, alcohol.
Injections: actually made for animals, available at Rs 35
Smack: Rs 400 a dose
Ganja: Rs 200 a dose

Age and gender
Children as young as 7-8 years old have been observed taking drugs. While only boys are observed consuming drugs, girls are also addicted to substance abuse but stay less visible due to fear of stigma.