Drug Addiction Among Females in Kashmir

Jehangir notes a disturbing trend

(Mr. Jehangir Rashid Malik, 37, was born in Srinagar, and did his primary schooling at the Green Land Educational Institute in Hawal, Srinagar. He studies at the Sri Partap Higher Secondary School for classes XI and XII, and completed his Bachelor's degree through distance mode from the University of Kashmir. He subsequently graduated from the Media Education Research Centre (MERC) of the University of Kashmir with a Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism. As a journalist, he is associated with the Civil Society, a New Delhi magazine, and is the Editor of Kashmir Plus, a news and feature based portal of Srinagar. He began his career in journalism as a correspondent with the Kashmir Times, and later worked at the Daily Etalaat (English) and as a news editor with the Daily Khidmat (English). He has been awarded the Sanjoy Ghose Humanitarian Award for story writing by the Charkha Development Network, New Delhi, and has received fellowships from the Action Aid India, the Centre for Science and Environment, and the National Foundation for India (NFI), all based in New Delhi. This article is a part of series of articles to be published in connection with the fellowship offered to the writer by the NFI, New Delhi on the topic, ‘Drug addiction among females in Kashmir valley.’ In his leisure time, Mr. Malik likes watching cricket and listening to radio programs especially old melodies sung by legends, Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar Ganguly.)


Drug and Females

The overall personality of a female undergoes a dramatic change and there is a complete transition in her behavioural pattern once she becomes a drug addict. Important components like education, health and hygiene, food-intake, dress pattern and others change for the worse, due to the drug abuse by a female. Her behaviour towards her family members more importantly her mother changes from a loving daughter to a hostile entity.

Shaista (name changed) was a brilliant student and would pass with flying colours in the examination. She would study in order to make her mark and at the same time would take part in other co-curricular activities. She would take the food in adequate quantity and would wear lovely dresses thus making her a complete human being, but unfortunately the things changed and her life took a worse turn.

As she fell in the dragnet of drug abuse there was a change in her overall temperament. She would no longer be concerned about her health and hygiene and would take very less food while showing no interest towards the dress pattern. At times she would wear dirty and unclean clothes without caring what the outsiders would say. Her attitude towards her mother turned hostile and she considered all the family members as her enemies.

Narrating the tale of this girl, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Wani, founder Hindustan National Social Security (HNSS) de-addiction centre, Khanyar, says that he came to know about the case through his teacher. He says that his teacher was very much concerned about the girl and the family as a whole and wanted him to do his level best in restoring the original status of the family.

“My teacher knew that I am running a de-addiction centre and one day he came to me. He virtually pleaded before me to take up the case of the girl and in reply I told him that I would do my best in detoxifying the girl. The girl’s father was my classmate and as such I knew about the family. The family is well educated and well respected one and nobody could believe that a girl from this family would fall prey to drug addiction,” said Dr. Wani.

Shaista lost her father at a very young age and she was brought up by her mother and uncles. She was an intelligent student and secured good marks in the examination up to her secondary examination. But as she got enrolled in the 11th class it was observed that there is a change in her temperamental behaviour.

“The girl was treated just like a silver spoon baby and she was brought up with love, care and affection by her mother as well as uncles. She was the only child of her parents and as such received all the love from the members of the joint family. There was an unexpected change in the behaviour of the girl at the age of 18, while she was in the 11th class. Her attitude towards her mother and uncles became hostile and this was taken seriously by the other members of the joint family,” said the HNSS founder.

These people started to look for the reasons of the abnormal behaviour of the girl and they arranged some meetings in this respect. Shaista was very much annoyed with her mother and uncles and she would rebuke them like anything on regular basis. She considered all of them to be her enemies and would take their word with a pinch of salt. Following this the members of the joint family sent her to her maternal home.

“This girl got attached to one of her uncles as he would take care of her wishes. He was covering her interests and as such the girl was more than comfortable and frank with this particular uncle. Her mother used to ponder over the things and would burst into tears thinking her daughter is on a wrong path with no solution in sight,” said Dr. Wani.

The HNSS founder says that his teacher who narrated the sorry state of affairs of the girl wanted him to come to the rescue of the family.

“My teacher once touched my feet and requested me to do something for the girl and the family as a whole. The girl’s father was my teacher’s younger brother and as such his concerns were more than genuine. I told him and the other family members that the girl would be normal and she would regain her brilliance in studies,” said Dr. Wani.