Kashmir’s silent epidemic

The government’s disclosure that more than 32,500 substance abuse cases have been registered in Jammu and Kashmir since 2022 should shake us out of any lingering complacency. The data placed before the Legislative Assembly makes clear that this is no longer a scattered social problem but a full-blown public health crisis.

Data tabled in the Legislative Assembly by Health and Medical Education Minister Sakena Itoo reveals both the scale of the challenge and the uneven geography of addiction in the Union Territory. Of the total cases, 16,759 were registered in the Kashmir division and 15,758 in Jammu. Srinagar alone accounts for 6,100 patients, the highest in J&K, followed by Anantnag (2,157), Kulgam (2,075), and Baramulla (1,623). In Jammu division, Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu has recorded 9,806 cases since 2022, a figure that highlights the depth of the crisis in the region’s urban centres.

The government’s response has evolved in recent years: Addiction Treatment Facilities (ATFs) are now operational in all districts of the Kashmir division and nine districts of Jammu. But infrastructure alone will not help. We need the involvement of the society. In January, the prime minister Narendra Modi in his Man ki Baat made a reference to Sheikhgund where one concerned resident mobilised the entire village to curb tobacco sales and confront substance abuse. In a region often discussed only through the prism of conflict and politics, Sheikhgund was projected as an example of social responsibility and collective action.

But the larger picture beyond this inspiring anecdote is far more disturbing. Even as the Prime Minister spoke of the village pushing back against drugs, official data and recent admissions by the administration reveal that drug addiction in Kashmir has reached alarming proportions. The Valley’s divisional commissioner Anshul Garg has already conceded that the number of addicts has tripled in the last three-and-a-half years. Heroin use, in particular, is rising sharply among young people including students in colleges, coaching centres and educational institutions. A parliamentary panel had earlier estimated that nearly 13.5 lakh people in Jammu and Kashmir were consuming drugs, with about five lakh using opioids.

Jammu and Kashmir thus stands at a crossroads. If the present trajectory continues, the social and economic costs will be devastating. But if government action is matched by community resolve, as in Sheikhgund, the tide can yet be turned. The numbers are alarming. The response must be equally determined.