Drug abuse and not human rights was the talking point of a seminar organised by Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (JKSHRC) on Monday to mark the 70th World Human Rights Day.
At the Auditorium Hall of the Information Department, the speakers choose to discuss drug abuse at length even as Chairperson JKSHRC Retired Chief Justice Bilal Ahmad Nazki said: “One of our jobs is to make the people feel the pain of the ill effects of our society.”
As per Nazki, during the current year, more than 10,000 people visited SMHS hospital and Police Drug De-Addiction and Rehabilitation to get treatment for their drug addiction.
“That is the reason, we choose Drug Abuse topic on today’s Human Rights Day,” said Nazki.
Recalling some of his recent experiences about drug prevalence of addiction in the society, Nazki said, “One of the boys told me that he had stolen all ornaments of his mother and sister to purchase drugs. Another person spent Rs 75 lakh on the drugs.”
The Chairperson JKHRC said, “We discuss all sort of issues in our casual chats or during marriage ceremonies, but we never discuss drug abuse. My target is to create a debate on the topic. I want to create a sense of pain in society and treatment will come easily. Today, synthetic drugs are supplied from somewhere else which is more dangerous than cannabis. If we cut the supply line, we will be able to solve the problem to a great extent. Solutions have to find out within our social set-up.”
Nazki said that need is to create mass awareness across the state about drug-abuse so that it can be completely eradicated.
On the occasion, the organizers distributed informative material, which read that as per the survey conducted by United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), there are 70,000 drug addicts in Kashmir alone, out of which 4000 are women.
As per the survey, 65 to 70% of students in Kashmir are drug addicts.
As per the statistics issued by Government Psychiatric disease hospital, Rainawari, 90% drug users are in the age group of 17 to 35 years with a lifetime prevalence of drug addiction.
The informative material read that in his study leading Psychiatrist Dr Mushtaq Margoob has found, “More than two lakh people in Kashmir are into the consumption of illegal drugs.
