Srinagar, Nov 26: Trembling teens battling withdrawal, mood swings, and irreversible physical and mental health damage have become more common with every passing year.
Tapentadol, Tramadol, Pregabalin, Vermor, Codeine, all having their own Gen-Z lingo names, are reaching schools and homes safely; all this, while parents, schools and society remain in denial or a self-enforced oblivion.
The records at Drug De-Addiction Center (DTDC) at SMHS Hospital show over 1900 adolescents, between the ages of 10 years to 18 years, are on treatment for “other substances”.
Around 100 of these are new cases from 2024 onwards.
In-charge DTDC, Prof Yasir Hussain Rather, said, the “other substances” include prescription drugs like Tramadol, Pregabalin, and Tapentadol.
It also includes Cannabis, the “joint” or “jay” that adolescents flaunt to be perceived as “dope” and “fire”.
“The kids start the tablets with the notion that they are not taking drugs, but medicines, just not in the quantities advised. And soon, they realise, it is but a trap,” he says.
Prof Rather said many of these kids are seen by de-addiction clinics soon after they start, but most remain inaccessible, untraceable, till these and “harder drugs” take control of them, landing them in lanes and bylanes of crime, social deviations, and personal devastation.
The prescription drugs have ample suppliers.
From the mohalla pharmacy to the peddler who makes rounds of “spots”, from couriers to the “bhayya” in school, access is mostly “easy-peasy”.
The prices are also in reach of adolescents, manageable with a “little enterprise”.
“Some teenagers finish their resources, and then decide to become couriers themselves, to transport, consume, and earn,” says Aafaq Wani, Cluster Coordinator, South Asia Center for Peace and People’s Empowerment.
He, along with his team, has worked extensively in the community to help adolescents battle addiction successfully.
“What struck me most was that most families and mohallas deny they have a problem at hand. Parents don’t want to talk about a teenager who they know is addicted, and neighbors don’t want to acknowledge their society has a person who is abusing substances,” he says.
The taboo around substance abuse prevents treatment-seeking.
“Most of these children, who get into substance abuse, have a history of childhood trauma, sometimes physical, sometimes mental, sometimes even sexual,” says Prof Rather.
Many have underlying, untreated disorders.
Nevertheless, he believes, the easy access and the diminishing stress coping among teenagers are a driving force.
It begins as a “stress buster” and “pain reliever”, and explodes into a full-blown crisis.
Prescription drugs like tapentadol, pregabalin, tramadol, codeine, and even opioid substitution therapy (OST) Vernor are finding their way into school backpacks.
A doctor said, Vernor is solely available in drug de-addiction centers; however, many substance abusers, who procure it as treatment, sell it outside for a hefty price.
Recently, Anantnag district officials imposed a ban on courier companies transporting narcotic and psychotropic substances without authorization.
Street names like “Pandas” for tapentadol or “Signatures” for pregabalin capsules show acceptability and the extent these drugs have entered a generation.
These are sold in full strips, consumed in strips, and each strip, “one card” is a “dose”.
Empty codeine bottles are strewn in isolated spots and less frequented lanes, mostly in the vicinity of a school.
The pharmacists who supply these prescription drugs keep on inventing means to evade detection and the law.
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