Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha few days back reiterated the call by the administration in the fight against drug-menace and keep youth away from it. He called for the need to work together to achieve a “drug-free” Jammu Kashmir.
The call for fight against the drugs also figured in recent high level security meetings on Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier last week the Chief Secretary also took comprehensive review of efforts being made to mitigate the menace of drugs here.
The Chief Secretary stressed on the officers to put joint efforts in getting rid of the menace from the society.
Importantly the top civil officer also rightly underscored the need of “owning” this “mission” and being determined to root the menace at every cost.
He also spelt measures and among others calling for increasing the surveillance especially around the educational institutions. In a better way forward, he suggested providing a WhatsApp contact for reporting of such crimes besides using social and other media for creating awareness about the ill effects and symptoms of drug addiction.
The drug menace is catastrophic for individual and family. Each family member is uniquely affected by the individual resorting to drug including but not limited to having unmet developmental needs, impaired attachment, economic hardship, legal problems, emotional distress, and sometimes violence being perpetrated against him or her.
It is as such the drug abuse needs to be dealt with very severely at each level as there is fear of losing the young generation to unfortunate plague and no government can afford it.
The problem of drug use is profuse in J&K and this fact has been depicted by various surveys. Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (IMHANS), Government Medical College, Srinagar, in collaboration with the Social Welfare Department and Directorate of Health Services, had recently brought to fore ugly reality about the drug abuse among the unemployed youth in the Kashmir Valley.
As per, over 25.2 percent of unemployed youth were found involved in substance abuse in the Kashmir.
The findings show that overall 2.8% of the total population of the Valley has been indulging in substance abuse, with 52,404 dependent on drugs currently.
A shared effort on the part of every stakeholder is required to check the menace and every person, and various social organizations need to join hands together to get rid of the menace.
