Cases of Drug Addiction among Youths Rising in Himachal Pradesh; State Becoming 'Den of Druggies'

In the last three years, as many as 58 youths from Himachal Pradesh have lost their lives due to drug addiction. Despite the State Police running a comprehensive campaign against the drug menace in the state, dealers and peddlers have upped their game in coming up with innovative ways to increase sales.

Shimla: Reports of youths dying due to overdose of drugs in the state have increased considerably over the years with 58 youths losing their lives to addiction since 2021. Kangra, the area bordering Himachal Pradesh and Punjab has become a den of drugs and has taken away the lives of several youths recently.

Just two days ago, on May 15, the body of a 27-year-old youth was recovered from Thakurdwara and a drug syringe was lying near it. The young man's father is a tailor who was shattered to find his only son dead due to drug menace. However, this is not an isolated case as another mother from the Sirmaur district lost her son to drug addiction on Thursday.

Such cases are on a rise from Bilaspur to Una and and from Shimla to Solan. However, due to the noise and rush of the Lok Sabha elections in the country, such cases are not being reported and the issue is being brushed under the carpet. Whereas, some cases were registered with the police, in most cases, families of the addicts were silent due to public shame.

Social worker Jiyanand Sharma, who has been active in the campaign against drugs, termed the situation to be frightening. "Primarily, the youth who have shifted away from home to pursue higher degrees are the target of drug dealers. The actual death toll in the state due to drug overdose could be much higher that what has been reported," he added.

Although Himachal Police is running a comprehensive campaign against drugs, but drug dealers have turned no stone untouched in hiking sales. New methods of smuggling are being adopted by them. If we look at the figures, in the first two months of this year, Shimla Police arrested the maximum number of smugglers from the state.

As many as 29 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) were registered in January and 54 cases were registered in February. Of the total 431 NDPS cases across the state, 14 were from BBN, 45 from Bilaspur, 20 from Chamba, 12 from Hamirpur, 40 from Kangra, one from Kinnaur, 58 from Kullu, 2 from Lahaul-Spiti, and 44 from Mandi. As many as 83 cases were registered in Uttar Pradesh, 26 in Sirmaur, 19 in Solan and 40 in Una.

Himachal Police has seized a consignment of 57 kg hashish, 6 kg opium, 2 kg 885 grams chitta from the accused. Apart from this, police have also seized 8090 intoxicating pills, 3850 intoxicating capsules and 300 bottles of banned syrup from the peddlers. More than 17 kg of ganja and 102 kg 508 grams of Bhukki were also seized from the criminals.

Dr Ramesh Chand, MS of IGMC Hospital, who has played a leading role in social concerns, says that the future of the youth is getting ruined due to drug addiction. Serious campaigning needs to be done to bring an end to such social menaces, he added.