Get strict on tobacco control
The covid-19 pandemic has meant that young adults who felt stressed owing to the fact that most of them had to sit back at home meant that many among them resorted to tobacco abuse.
The sale of tobacco related products in Jammu and Kashmir especially in Kashmir is witnessing an increase with every passing day. An increased use of tobacco products and mostly the end users of such products being the young populace is a phenomenon which concerns the government as well as the civil society alike.
Ironically, the hazards of smoking are known to all. Smoking cigarettes is a known health hazard however, the sale of the product continues with least check being put in place. Even the loose sale of cigarettes banned by the Supreme Court is also being resorted to by the retail outlets.
In a place like Jammu and Kashmir cigarettes have proved to be more devilish as it has affected the younger population to the hilt. The issue has become so grave that cigarette smoking is proving to be a stepping stone for various other drug abuses that are prevalent among the younger population here.
As of now Kashmir valley is witnessing increased use of psychotropic medicines and other drugs as well. A study conducted few months back revealed that a majority of the people involved in drug abuse in Kashmir fall in the age group of 10-20 years, the age at which a person starts taking drugs also has been becoming lower in the recent past.
Data sourced from department of psychiatry of the Government Medical College Srinagar reveals that 76.8 percent of people abusing drugs are between the ages of 10 to 20 years. And 94.4 percent of those found to be abusing drugs start with cigarettes.
Various studies conducted to check drug and substance abuse have pointed out that for most people, substance abuse started like that – curiosity, stress, thrill, quest accompanied by availability of drugs and lack of supervision and reprimand.
However, what is more shocking is that the age of starting substance abuse and consumption of tobacco is lowering every year. The recent experiences from the Drug De-addiction centre (DAC) in Srinagar reveals that children as young as eight years have a brush with substances of abuse.
All this starts with the use of cigarette primarily out of curiosity and later addiction. One fails to understand as to why orders restricting sale of loose cigarettes and tobacco is being ignored across Jammu and Kashmir. Even the sale of tobacco products is being allowed near schools and colleges and the COTPA act that prevents such sale is being dumped and ignored.
The social context seemed to be playing pivotal role in increasing number of young tobacco users in Kashmir. Social correlates like peer pressure, parent-child conflict, child physical and sexual abuse, family dysfunction, scholastic failure, estrangement from teachers and deviant networking because of social networking sites were all working towards creating a crisis here in the valley.
All this needs an immediate attention from us as we cannot let the posterity to go wandering in despair and desolation. Social activists, religious leaders and the community has a whole needs to come out and help eradicate the menace. After all things that affect us directly cannot be left for the administration alone. We also need to put in our part.
