Gopal Sharma
Drugs have cascading and devastating impact on the psyche of the youth on one hand and on the other hand, it berefts the country of its human resources which is the backbone of any country. Drug abuse is assuming frightening proportions in the restive Himalayan region because of our neighbours. There seems to be firmly entrenched corridor for illegally routing drugs from Pakistan to Kashmir, from there to the rest of India leading political observers to coin the term narco-terrorism.
According to national comprehensive survey conducted by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, there are more than 60 million drug users in the country of which a large number of users are in age group of 11-18 years. In view of youth falling prey to drug abuse, the Central Government in the month of September and October last started Pan India ‘Nasha Mukht Bharat Abhiyan’ that was implemented in 272 districts and 32 states/UTs and was monitored at the highest level so as to ensure maximum engagement and its impact on youth of the nation. As per data, a total of 9,45,40,957 people were reached out during this campaign out of which 3,08, 80,645 were youth.
Today, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is facing a very grim situation since there is neither a denial, nor acknowledgement of drug menace breathing around us. A recent report by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre in AIIMS revealed that over six lakh people in J&K are victims of drug abuse. Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences reported that 489 drug abuse were reported in the facility in J&K in 2016, 7420 in 2019, 3536 in 2020 (fall owing to covid-19) and 90% of this drug users are between the 17-33 age group.
In Jammu division, the areas like RS Pura, Rajouri, Poonch, Kathua etc and entire Kashmir division is infected with the drug addiction. Families of these addicts are the silent victims of this snow balling threat. Excise Department and other Departments like Police, NCB have witnessed numerous helpless parents calling out for help of their sons, daughters, husbands, fathers but unfortunately only few back home have been treated and are healthy because many do not register themselves with de-addictions centres because of the stigma attached to it or leave the treatment half way, resulting in untimely and tragic deaths of youngsters.
The Police, Excise and Food & Drugs Departments have been doing regular awareness campaigns in collaboration with doctors, educational institutes etc especially, in rural areas and amongst youth through Nukkad Nataks, radio advertisement, activity-based programmers with youth at universities, schools etc. Even religious institutions and social platforms were utilized in J&K to discuss the hazards of drug intake and addiction and the response of these campaigns has been satisfactory.
Though Government agencies and social and religious organizations have launched vigorous campaign against the menace of drugs but there is urgent need to motivate society, especially the youth, towards low alcoholic beverages and gradually contaning the use of drugs and alcohol in the Indian society, thus, saving our coming generations from its ill effects. As mentioned earlier as per statistics the youth between the age of 17-33 are more vulnerable and are potential targets of drug peddlers. To overcome this situation, the Excise Department must encourage low alcoholic beverages like beer, RTD, wines etc as an alternative to youth who may fall prey to deadly intoxicating substances. Moreover, low alcoholic beverages have far low alcohol content as compared to hard drinks and are therefore, a part of dietary habit in major part of the world. However, the most important thing remains that it is regulated and controlled by Government authorities thus ensuring that its standards and safety as compared to lethal drugs or dangers of consuming illicit liquor with no standards that unfortunately leads to incidents like Bihar hooch tragedy killing as many as 70 souls.
The easy availability of these dangerous drugs like Bhuki, ‘Chitta’ etc through drug peddlers make it difficult to protect the youth from their shackles. Furthermore, the availability of low alcoholic drinks still remains a challenge in most parts of the country therefore many states/UT’s have come up with the idea of ‘Low Alcohol Content Departmental stores’ of high standards and hygiene in an attempt to provide a regulated and legally manufactured substitute to potential target population of lethal drugs.
The Government must aim and plan for the times when the black cloud drug addiction hovering over naïve lives of our youth gets cleared allowing light of dignified life to penetrate their lives. Society in general and parents in particular have a lot to work inhand along with our youth by inculcating sports temperament from childhood, indulging in activity based events like cleanliness drives, tournaments, treks, frank and inhibition free communication with children allowing them to choose their paths, cautioning them about their life if they choose drugs over purpose driven goals.
Excise Department must also take initiatives to encourage use of low alcoholic beverages rather than hard drinks having harmful impact if not taken in moderate drinking habit. Now, the question arises what is the moderate drinking, it has been a convention that the moderate drinking is one drink/day for women and two drinks/day for men and one pint beer a day for a man would bring more benefits rather than harms. However, harmful/excessive drinking which is over and above moderate drinking must be discouraged to avoid any harmful impacts on the health of people, specially our young generation.
A Medical Journal quoting research in Europe recently suggests that beer has some health benefits, but one must not forget that it does contain some amount of alcohol. So, people dealing with certain health conditions should avoid beer. Do not consume beer if some one is pregnant or breastfeeding; suffering from gout, dealing with Insomnia; have liver-related complications and a stomach ulcer or resistance heartburn.
However, there are many benefits of moderate drinking of low alcohol beverages such as beer, cider and wines which are well documented and researched by scientists. Studies suggest that moderate beer drinking may make one less likely than those who don’t drink to suffer from hearts attacks, strokes or heart disease. In fact, studies evaluating the relative benefits of wine versus beer versus spirits suggest that moderate consumption of any alcoholic beverage is associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease (New England Journal of Medicine). According to Dr Cristobal Miranda of Deptt of Environments and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University). Drinking beer could help reduce your risk of developing kidney stones. Beers that contain a lot of hops – for example, pale ales – are rich in kidney health-promoting phytochemicals (Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology). Beer is low in calories, low in carbohydrates and has no fat or cholesterol. It strengthens bones and reduces risk of Osteoporosis. It reduces stress, helps in improving memory and fights cancer cells.
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