‘Mission Wapsi’: Volunteers to keep eye on drug abusers, peddlers

1 min read
Screenshot 2022 03 29 142710

SRINAGAR:  Srinagar administration has decided to create volunteers network to help in eradicating the drug menace.

For the first time, Srinagar administration has set up a online portal inviting volunteers to register under `Mission Wapsi’.

“Under this initiative Citizens of District may enroll with the District Administration through the above mentioned weblink as a Volunteer to help in Reporting / eradicating the Drug menace from their areas. Victims of Substance / Drugs who want to get rehabilitation facility / counselling  from the District Administration they can also enroll on the above mentioned weblink,” reads the description of Mission Wapsi portal.

Nearly six lakh people are affected by drug-related issues in Jammu and Kashmir. The number accounts for approximately 4.6% population of the Union territory. Shockingly 90 percent of users are in the age group of 17-33.

Jammu and Kashmir is situated in close vicinity to the golden crescent which produces 80 percent of the world’s opium and is considered as the prime source of the illicit drug trade.

Data released by the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), Kashmir, reveal that there have been 3538 admissions during the pandemic period from 2020 to 2021. Interestingly, 12 percent of OPD attendees were first-time users who took to drugs during the lockdown period. Also, 24 percent of the drug abusers had relapsed during the lockdown.

Figures of SMHS hospital’s Drug De-addiction Centre reveal that 489 patients were treated in the Outpatients Department (OPD) in 2016-2017. The figures rose to 3622 in 2017-18 and 5113 in 2018-19. From April to June 2019, 1095 patients were treated in the OPD of SMHS hospital’s Drug De-addiction Centre.

Data shows that the number of patients admitted during 2015-2016 was 116. The number increased to 203 in 2015 -2016.  Around 207 were admitted in 2016- 2017 followed by 374 in 2017-2018. The number increased to 624 in 2018-2019.

Police figures reveal that 21871 patients have been treated in Drug De-Addiction and Rehabilitation Center, Srinagar, from February 2008 to May 2019.  Of whom 2315 were admitted to the indoor patients’ department.

Police have recently booked 21 drug peddlers under Public Safety Act and detained 69 others under different sections of the Indian Penal Code. Police investigations have revealed that 90 percent of the thefts in Srinagar have been committed by drug abusers.

 Srinagar city has witnessed an alarming increase in thefts during the last few months. Police have successfully busted modules of burglars in the city.

 Police data reveal that there has been a more than 15 percent increase in crimes in Jammu and Kashmir in 2020.  The crime rate in 2020 remained at 216.90 per one lakh population as against 189.41 per lakh population in 2019.

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