Recently the death of 5 young boys in their mid-twenties belonging to the same circle in the last six months has made the affected families has caused shock waves on how present yet absent this menace is. The story of these boys belonging to educated well to do families study in top schools is harrowing. The pattern of drug addiction has common features.
This group of young students was first approached by a gardener in their school at the age of 12 years with some free stuff on the pretext of this enhancing their brains or their bodies etc. Once the kids become addicted then the price game starts. By the time the parents accept that their child is addicted it is too late. Rehabilitation only works in spurts and many of them tragically take doses that are deadly.
Speed kills but thrills, so do drugs. They kill but transport you to the world of oblivion. A world where you don't have to face the stresses of life, where you don't have to live a life that is intricate and corrosive, where you can live in a world that is made of clouds and fantasy.
Drugs have been a hot seller and a hot killer all over the world; however its prevalence in Pakistan has always been a taboo topic. Neither governments, nor drug takers nor their families want to talk about it. Thus, like domestic violence, we all know it is there but who, how much and what all exists is whispering discourse not to be spoken aloud. That is why its prevalence in the country has now reached alarming and shocking rates.
The denial of danger is the biggest danger. The State Minister for Interior made a statement about the prevalence of drugs in the private schools of Islamabad especially in females. His statement was reported that 75% females in private schools in Islamabad were on drugs.
This created uproar in the media and in the assembly. There was condemnation of this statement as being wrong and also ridicule of him making this fact public. This very attitude is one of the reasons drugs have flourished in this country causing countless deaths and misery to families unimaginable.
The police meanwhile gave a figure that only 2% drug prevalence was found in the Islamabad academic world. This made the media, parliamentarians and the families happy and they quoted it with vengeance against the statement of the State Minister for Interior, but unfortunately this is the most inaccurate presentation of this danger.
Truth is bitter and difficult to digest. While what the minister said was misunderstood and misquoted what the police said was also misleading. Further analysis showed that what the State Minister for Interior meant was that drug intake in females in Islamabad colleges had increased 75%. This steep hike in this deadly drug intake itself means a systemic failure in controlling drug availability and student behaviour both at the school and college level and within the household domain.
The problem with this prevalence is that it is a dirty secret that nobody wants to share. The children hide it from families, families hide it from each other, government hides it from public and thus this ostrich approach allows the drug peddlers to multiply and grow the industry exponentially.
Majority of lower income drug addicts usually start with soft drugs like chaliya, gutka and pan, and then move to hard drugs like heroin, opium and cocaine, etc. The purchase of drugs or alcohol by young people is usually through dealers or 'agents', who are just a phone call away. Their numbers are easily exchanged from one person to another. The contact numbers are also widely distributed throughout hostels, hotels and other places.
While there are many battle fronts to be fought families and teachers are the frontline defences against this abuse. What the parents and teachers need is training to identify early users. Some glaring signs are body emaciation, strong loss of appetite, difficulty in breathing and fatigue, strong nervous disturbance, long home absences, lying to get money, isolation, remaining away from others, laziness, pale face, tremors in fingers, constipation, irregularities in work and studies, no interest in everyday life, red eyes, slurred speech, circles under the eyes, neglect of personal hygiene etc. Parents should immediately get blood tests done and get the school alerted.
The role of the education system is a key in addressing this menace. Schools and colleges need to have a special chapter added to their curriculum. Academia should conduct debates and declamations on creating awareness on the harms of drugs and encourage open discussions. All academic institutions should be mandated to appoint counsellors who can deal with suspects of this problem. All schools/colleges should also have drug testing done to create a fear in the students of getting caught. CCTV cameras should be installed with hidden cameras at sensitive points to catch these agents.
The government should legislate the anti-narcotics departments to nail down the drug trail and severely punish the gang and their facilitators. The Information Ministry together with the narcotics ministry should design awareness campaigns with media to create advertisements, public service messages and plays/dramas etc to create preventive mechanisms for creating a social deterrence on such activities. At the local government level vigilante committees should be formed to keep a community watch on drug cartel movements on ground. High penalty and reward system should be announced for abusers and whistle blowers.
The key is to break the silence. The key is to find the key to unlock the secret life of an early abuser. The key is to break the taboo of it being a shameful stigma. The key is to reach the roots of the problem. Families need to listen and then talk. Society needs to hear and then say.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) selects theme for each year and this year it was "Listen First". Listening to children and youth is the first step to help them grow healthy and safe. The need to feel heard, understood, accepted, valued is the path to change behaviour to get their self-respect and self-confidence back. Once you listen and understand them you can make them understand that "You don't need 'Heroin' to be a Hero". (The writer can be reached at [email protected])