Kashmir: Police crackdown on drugs spurs shift to medical opioids
Srinagar: As security forces continue their fight against terrorism, the Srinagar police has launched a crackdown against drug abuse and trafficking that has led to the arrest of 97 people and the filing of 73 cases in the last three months.
Officials cite intelligence reports indicating that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), having failed in recruiting local youth for terrorism, is now actively promoting drug abuse to destabilise Kashmir’s younger generation.
With intensified police crackdowns making heroin more difficult to obtain, addicted youth in Srinagar are increasingly turning to medical opioids as a substitute.
Dr. Mohammad Muzaffar Khan, who heads a local drug de-addiction centre, confirms this shift, saying the demand for narcotic analgesics has surged.
“Heroin has become difficult to procure because of strict police enforcement,” Khan said, adding, “When cravings become too strong, they switch to medicinal tablets.”
He said these tablets are often procured through illegal channels, bypassing medical shops, and are sometimes ordered from outside Jammu and Kashmir via couriers from cities like Delhi or Amritsar.
While a strip costs Rs 150, black market prices can soar to Rs 800 for a single dose.
Khan also pointed out a shift from locally grown cannabis and charas to heroin addiction over the last seven to eight years.
Srinagar police initiated the aggressive campaign amid a steep surge in the consumption of psychotropic drugs, particularly heroin, among the youth.
Between April and July, it arrested 97 people, registered 73 cases, and seized brown sugar (3.57 kg), heroin (1.73 kg), charas (203.43 kg), fuki (11.95 kg), besides psychotropic tablets, capsules, cannabis and bung.
Police are targeting the financial networks behind drug trafficking and have frozen 29 bank accounts, besides attaching assets, including six vehicles and nine residential houses, linked to smugglers.
Police have also detained 21 people under the PIT-NDPS Act and destroyed three drug hotspots.
In court, police have filed charge sheets in 67 of the 73 cases, secured rejections of seven bail applications, and challenged seven bail orders and three acquittal orders.
Police initiated two departmental inquiries against investigating officers as well as prosecution witnesses for allegedly failing in their duties.
Khan said opioid misuse affects people of all ages and highlighted that patients — some as young as 20 — often consume 10-15 tablets at once to mimic heroin’s effects.
“This problem affects people of all ages, including those in their thirties. It’s a serious issue,” he said.
Khan credited the Jammu and Kashmir Police for disrupting the heroin supply chain, which he said has created a new challenge with medical opioids, but showed the success of their initial anti-narcotics campaign.
The human toll of this crisis is harsh, as firsthand accounts from recovering addicts show the devastating effect on their lives.
A recovering addict said severe withdrawal symptoms after four years of drug use pushed him to seek help, while another, who graduated from cigarettes to heroin in 2016, lost his business and livelihood. Both now urge young people to “steer clear of drugs at all costs.”
The ongoing campaign is viewed as an important step not just to fight crime but also to protect the future generation of the region, the Srinagar police said.
