Give them safe environs
Now that the schools are opening and the students will again witness an atmosphere where they will mingle with their counterparts, it becomes more imperative for all of us to provide the young buds safe environs especially in the context of their health.
Since the opening up of schools has also initiated business activities around the schools, the shop owners have made all the products available that the students seek from them. One such harmful ingredient that the students will seek is the cigarettes that have otherwise been banned for sale around the schools.
As no mechanism has been put in place to curtail the use of tobacco especially among the younger generation, the kids can once again lay their hands on cigarettes which ruins their health.
The hazards of smoking are known to all. Smoking cigarettes is a known health hazard however, for obvious reasons the governments across the board have failed to act against it.
But when it comes to 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.
As of now Kashmir valley is witnessing increased use of psychotropic medicines and other drugs. A study conducted last year revealed that a majority of the people using drugs 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.
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 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.
Substance use is a hugely complex problem and most of the questions that one may seek to redress the issue go unanswered. However, multiple factors including biological predisposition, development and social context interplay to lead to this complex behavior.
However, one major reason for the increased prevalence of substance abuse is considered the weakening family bonds and deteriorating societal set-up.
The social context seemed to be playing pivotal role in increasing number of substance users in young children 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 drug 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.
The authorities need to wake up and ensure that COTPA act is strictly adhered to especially in areas where schools operate. This will ensure that the stepping stone for drug abuse and other evils will not be available for the students with ease.
KV Network
