Srinagar, Kashmir in the Indian Administration -Fiya* fragile fingers are selected on the loose threads of her worn dark brown sweater. She sits on the edge of her bed in the Shri Maharaja Hospital Hospital Department of Harry Singh (SMHS) in the Srinagar capital in Kashmir.
While faded and colored clothing is lightly hanging on her thin frame, as well with her eyes treated, she says, “I dreamed of flying high above the mountains, touching the blue sky as a steward. Now I got stuck in the nightmare, high on drugs, I fight for my life. “
Afiya, 24, is only one of thousands of heroin addicts in the disputed region where growing drug addiction is consumed by young lives.
Study 2022 by the Psychiatric Department of the Government Faculty of Medicine in Srinagar revealed that Kashmir had overcome Punjab for decades, a northwestern Indian state that had been fighting a drug crisis, in number of cases of narcotics used by alleged.
In August 2023, the Indian Parliament’s report estimated that nearly 1.35 million of the 12 million kashmir people were drug users, suggesting an abrupt increase of nearly 350,000 such users in the previous year, which was estimated at the Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (IMHAN) at the Government Faculty, Srinarar.
The Imhans Survey also revealed that 90 percent of drug users in Kashmir were between the ages of 17 and 33.
SMHS, at Afiya Hospital, attended more than 41,000 patients associated with drugs in 2023. Early one person brought an average of one person every 12 minutes, which is a 75 percent increase in 2021.
The rush of the drug cases of drugs mostly encouraged the proximity of the so -called “golden crescent”, a region that covers parts of neighboring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, where opium is grown to a large extent. Experts also say chronic unemployment “Started by a region that lost partial autonomy In 2019, a pandemic of Coid-19, a stress and despair came quickly, forcing the youth cashews according to the abuse of the substances.
As a result, he says that Dr. Yasir, a professor in charge of psychiatry in Imhans, hospitals and centers for treatment in the region. He said that institutions for the treatment of addiction are established in Kashmir of 2021, only a few hospitals have hospital institutions for patients with severe addictions such as Afiya, who often require hospitalization.
‘Looked harmless’
“You will go through this,” Aphia’s mother Rabiya*whispered, whispering to her daughter, rejecting damp hair with Aafiy’s face. She just bathed. Aphia’s father, Tabish*, sits on a chair in the corner, looking at them quietly.
Afiya barely listens to the convincing words of her mother, and it seems that she is repeatedly focused on repeatedly removing the blue blanket, which the hospital provided to give some fresh air deep, black wounds on her hands, legs and stomach, caused by needle stabs in her veins from injection of heroin. Wrap wounds are now watering blood and thick, yellow pus, while doctors warn that they can infect their parents and students.
More than six years ago, Afiya was a bright high school student dreamed of becoming a flight attendant. After passing her 12th grade with an impressive 85 percent mark, she answered the job advertisement published by the leading private Indian airline.
“This is not real to lie in this bed,” Afiya tells Al Jazeera. “I was driving my car. I was an elegant woman known for her beautiful manuscript, intellect and strong communication skills. My fast memories singled out me. I could remember the details without effort, never missing anything. I was independent and confident.
“But now, I’m lying motionless here, like a dead fish, as my brothers and sisters said. Even I can’t neglect the scent that lingers around me.”
She says she has been chosen for the Aari -Company job and sent her to New Delhi for training. “I stayed there for two months. He felt like a new beginning, an opportunity to flight, run away.”
But her high dreams were full of Earth in August 2019, when the Indian government abolished a special status of Kashmir and imposed months of security locking to discourage street protests against the shock moves.
Thousands of people, including top politicians, were arrested and thrown into prison. The Internet and other basic rights have also been suspended, as New Delhi brought the region under its direct control for the first time in the decade.
“The situation at home was gloomy. There was no communication with my family, phone, no way to find out if they were sure. I couldn’t stay in New Delhi anymore, so turned off. I took a week and went home,” Afiya said.
While leaving the capital with the help of other kashmiris, she knew a little that the path was over when she ended up even before she started.
“By the moment the situation [in Kashmir] Improved, the roads opened and I could remember a return to New Delhi, it was five months. During this period I lost my dream job that I lost myself, “she says her eyes are well up.
“I applied for a job at other airlines, but nothing succeeded. With each rejection, I started to lose hope. Then Coid hit and Jobs became even more scarce. Over time, I completely lost my interest in working – my mind simply was no longer in it. I didn’t feel like doing anything. “
Afiya says that with every month her frustration turned into despair. She started spending more time with her friends, seeking comfort in their company.
“At first, we just talked about our fights,” she says. “Then it started with little temptations, with a bit of a cannabis to deal with tension. It seemed harmless. Then someone offered me foil [of heroin]. I didn’t think twice. He felt euphoric. “
“The only thing that gave me peace was drugs – everything else felt like it was inside me inside.”
‘Ruthless hunger’
But the escape was short -lived, she says, and the addiction cycle took over power.
“The dream quickly turned into a nightmare. The euphoria faded and was replaced by ruthless hunger,” she says as she describes the desperate measures and risks she began to take to find drugs.
“Once I traveled 40 KM (25 miles) from Srinagar in Shopian District South Kashmir to meet a drug dealer. My friends ran out of stock and someone gave me my number. I called it directly to agree on the supply. He was a big merchant, and at that time the only way to get what we needed.
“When I got there, he met me with something called” tich ” [local slang for injection]. He was the first person to introduce me to the injection of drugs. He put him in his stomach there in the car, “she says.” The rush was intense – she felt like heaven, but only for a moment. “
That moment of euphoria marked the beginning of her rapid descent into deeper addiction.
“Herine’s grip is ruthless. It’s not just a drug, it’s your life,” says Afiya. “I would be awake all night, coordinating with friends to make sure we have enough for the next day. It was exhausting, but the craving was stronger than all other types of pain.”
Heroin is the most commonly used drug in the region, and addicts who spend thousands of rupees every day to buy it.
“Heroin spread far and wide, and we see a disturbingly high number of patients affected by him,” Imhansov says.
The professor says he recorded an increase in abuse of substances among women, attributing to the struggle for mental health and unemployment.
“Before 2016. We rarely saw cases involving heroin. Most people used cannabis or other soft drugs. But heroin spreads like a virus, reaching everything – men, women, even pregnant women, “he tells Al Jazeera.” Now we see 300 to 400 patients a day, and new cases and tracking, and most involve herroin addiction. “
But why heroin?
“Because of their fast and intense euphoric effects,” he says, “which many considered more immediate and comfortable compared to Morphy.”
“It is easy to use, has greater power and misconception that he was safer or more refined than other drugs only added to his appeal, despite his very dependent nature.”
‘Wired to seek the last shot’
For addicts like Afiya, who has admitted so far that he is five times rehabilitation, the fight against heroin is daily and uphill battle.
“Every time I leave the hospital, my body pulls me back to the streets,” she says. “It is as if my brain is wired to seek the last shot.”
Afi’s intentions to recover remain uncertain. During rehabilitation, she often left the hospital to seek heroin or asked other patients during a daily walk in the hospital.
“Drug addicts have a way to connect with each other,” says Rabiya, her mother, for Al Jazeera. “I once saw her talking to a male patient in English and I realized he was asking him for drugs.”
Rabiya says she once found a drug hidden behind rinsing in a women’s toilet. “I found the stock and accompanied it, but she [Afiya] I still managed to get it [heroin] Again, “she says.” She knows how to manipulate the system to get what she wants. “
The nurse at the SHMS rehabilitation has revealed that patients often bribed security guards. “They give them money or make sense of them to leave, even while on medication,” says the nurse, seeking anonymity because she is not allowed to talk to the media. The women’s department is close to the entrance to the hospital – it also makes it easier for patients to get unnoticed, she says.
“It’s hearty because we try to help, but some patients just find ways to leave.”
“She [Afiya] He escaped one night and returned the next day, spending hours with male patients who helped her get heroin, “says the security guard, who also did not want to discover his identity for fear of losing his job.
But Afiya remains defiant. “These drugs do not bring the peace I get from one heroin shot,” says Al Jazeera, hands that tremble, and nails dig into a hospital bed.
The physical toll on her body because of addiction was strong. Open wounds on the legs, arms and abdomen. When Dr. Mukhtar and Thakur, a plastic surgeon on SMHS, was the first to examine, he says he was shocked.
“She couldn’t walk because of a deep wound on her private parts and big scars on Bedra. She had serious health problems, including damaged veins and infected wounds. Her liver, kidneys and heart were affected. She struggled with memory loss, anxiety and painful symptoms of withdrawal, leaving her in critical state,” he says.
Aphia’s parents say that bringing to SMHS rehabilitation was a desperate move. “In order to protect her and the reputation of the family, we told our relatives to treat the accident because of the stomach problems and scars,” Rabiya says.
“Nobody marries drug addicts here,” she adds. “Our neighbors and relatives are already doubting. They notice her scars, her unstable look and repeated hospitals.”
Aphia’s father says he often hides face in public, “unable to shame.”
Health experts say that seeking drug addiction treatment remains a challenge for women cashrs, because social stigma and cultural taboo hold many women in the shadow.
“Rehabilitation for women is often done secretly because the families do not want anyone to know, and everyone knows everything in Kashmir,” says Al Jazeera, Dr. Zoya Mir, a clinical psychologist who runs a clinic in Srinagar.
“Many rich families send their daughters to other countries for treatment, while others are either suffering in silence or delaying treatment until it’s too late,” she says. “These women need compassion, not judgment. Only then can they begin to treat.”
*The names were changed to protect identity.
