Young Kashmiris turning drug addicts due to easy availability of heroin, says Dr. Yasir Rathar

Not only are the youngsters falling into the trap but also are contracting Hepatitis C as it is common for every third addicted person to contract the infection.

Srinagar (Jammu-Kashmir):Over the years, drug use among the youth in the Kashmir Valley has not only increased but has also taken the form of an epidemic with the increasing number of youths falling into the trap of abuse.

Following the increased drug abuse, the heroin trade has become an industry in the valley, says Dr Yasir Rathar, Incharge, Drug De-addiction Centre, Government Medical College, Srinagar.

Not only are the youngsters falling into the trap but also are contracting Hepatitis C as it is common for every third addicted person to contract the infection, he adds.

According to the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, about 70% of those addicted to heroin have contracted Hepatitis C disease. The liver is of those addicts is also affected, while the chances of HIV remain high.

A group of students who are addicted say that they got drugs easily through a friend for two years. Although the heroin addiction has now been successfully treated, life has not yet returned to normal for us, laments a student on condition of anonymity.

According to them, drug addiction is a threat which is started with the deception of gaining peace but it brings man to destruction.

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The growing number of drug addicts can be gauged from the fact that every day 10 to 15 new addicts are admitted to hospitals for treatment, with a large number of young people who inject heroin.

Confirming the same, Dr Yasir Rather, says that in 2012, about 100 drug addicts were treated, but now the number of drug addicts is increasing to an average of 50 drug addicts per day.

During the last two years, more than 8,000 drug addicts have come to the hospital for treatment. Most of them were between 15 and 30 years of age, he added.

Earlier, drug addiction was limited to the financially viable section of the society but now it has even the lower and middle-class people are indulging in the vice.

Even young girls are becoming addicted to drugs now. Due to the easy availability of heroin and brown sugar youngsters are increasingly using these drugs in the form of injections-which are not only fatal but also dangerous, cautioned the doctor.