According to a UN report, more than a one million heroin addicts are registered in India, and unofficially there are as many as five million
Striking an emotional chord with the listeners in his "Mann Ki Baat" on Sunday, prime minister Narendra Modi gave a clarion call to the youth to get rid of drug menace that is posing a 3D (dimensional) challenge of "Darkness, Destruction and Devastation" to the Indian society.
"I have always heard that if you share grief, you lessen your burden and if you share your happiness, it increases. I'm pained by the grief of families whose children – sons and daughters get trapped in drug menace," the PM said.
Citing his first-hand experience as chief minister of Gujarat, he said, "People working under me asked for leave. They would not specify the reason, but when prodded gently, they would tell me that their child was addicted to drugs and they would have to leave everything to live with him. Even brave officers whom I considered very good, would break down," he said.
Describing drugs as a psycho-socio, medical problem, he asked people and society at large not to consider the drug addict as bad but treat the drugs as the real culprit and to be rejected.
Invoking Vivekananda, the PM asked the youth to shun drugs by having a definitive goal or dream in life. To evade the lure of drugs, one has to be focused and result-oriented, like a sports person, who does not bother and leaves cosy comfort of blanket to sweat out in the field.
Reflecting on the illicit relation between drug money and terrorism, PM pointedly asked youth, "Have you ever wondered, where the money you spend on drugs go? The bullet that hits our soldiers is often backed by drug money."
The alarming figures of drug abuse in India reflect that the concerns raised by the PM Modi are not only valid but need to be addressed on a war footing and immediately at various levels.
India is not only part of major international drug route – Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar, China and Bangladesh – but according to various UN reports it is also falling a prey to the menace in a big way.
According to a UN report, more than a one million heroin addicts are registered in India, and unofficially there are as many as five million.
It started off as casual use among a minuscule population of high-income group youth in the metro as hippy culture in 60s and 70s but has permeated to all sections of the society in several forms.
Furthermore, inhalation has given way to intravenous drug use, that too in combination with other sedatives and painkillers. This has increased the intensity of the effect, hastened the process of addiction and complicated the process of recovery.
Cannabis, heroin, and Indian-produced pharmaceutical drugs are the most frequently abused drugs in India. Cannabis products, often called charas, bhang, or ganja, are abused unhindered given the religious sanctity.
The problem is especially acute in regions that have seen insurgency and are located on international borders like J&K, Punjab, Bihar and several northeast states. In J&K and Punjab the drug abuse problem has spiralled to dangerous levels.
According Saiba Verma, a doctoral student from Cornell University researching on emerging scenario in Kashmir, the could be at least 60,000 substance abusers (drug addicts) in Srinagar alone.
During a crackdown on drug supply chain in June this year in Punjab, over 70,000 drug addicts reported at government drug de-addiction centres alone.
To check the growing drug menace, PM gave a sound advice to parents, friends and society at large.
"It is not enough to know your child's marks and how he has fared in an exam. You need to constantly monitor them, their friends, their habits and mobile phones."
"Our ancestors said a child should be treated with love until the age of five years, by the age of 10, a child should be disciplined and when he is 16, treat him like a friend," he said.
Doubling effect
Heroine sized
2011-528 kgs
2012-853kgs
Opium sized
2009-1.7tonnes
2012-Over 3 tonnes
Cocaine sized
2011- 14kg
2012-42kg
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