Drug addiction on decline in Srinagar: Officials
Srinagar: Police have arrested 186 drug dealers and seized a substantial amount of illegal narcotics from their possession up until the first month of the current year, amidst decline in the number of drug addicts in Srinagar.
Of the total 186 drug peddlers, two have been charged under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) while 16 others under the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1988 (PIT NDPS).
Police, according to the official data released this month, have registered 107 cases of drug peddling in Srinagar.
A cash amount of Rs 25 lakh has also been recovered from those arrested in connection with illicit drug trafficking from January 2023 till January 2024.
Data reveals that 108.52 grams of brown sugar, 17.07 kgs of heroin, 11.81 kilogram cannabis, 19.5 kgs of fukki, 1361 bottles containing codeine phosphate and 41,812 sedative capsules have also been recovered from the drug peddlers.
A senior police official told ‘Kashmir Images’ that drug addiction cases in Srinagar have considerably decreased in the face of strict measures initiated by the administration in this direction.
Drug addicts, he claimed, are becoming less common as the police and civil administration are keeping a close check on the city’s major drug hotspots.
A total of 728 youth, who were into substance abuse have been admitted to the Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (IMHANS) till January 2024 in Srinagar.
Psychiatrist and professor at Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar (IMHANS), Dr. Yasir Hassan Rather confirmed this, attributing the decline in number of drug addicts in the summer capital to the lack of availability of heroin, a gram of which he claims costs Rs 6,000.
“The number of drug addicts in Srinagar is declining, and the district’s decreased heroin supply is to be credited for the dip. The majority of substance abusers consume heroin in Srinagar, which has a gram cost of Rs 6000,” Dr Rather told ‘Kashmir Images’.
He said the drug-abusing population primarily comprises individuals between the ages of 25 and 35, with fewer women consuming drugs in Srinagar.
“All the patients have received effective care, and the rate of recovery has also been satisfactory. It now depends on whether a person having received treatment once, will resume drug addiction, or give it up,” he said.
