Spurt in drug abuse during the lockdown
Spurt in drug smuggling: 16 arrested this month in Chandigarh — Times Of India
Battling addiction in coronavirus lockdown — NDTV
Spurt in substance abuse among youth gives police the jitters — The Hindu
Switching on the news channel or reading a newspaper brings us to a world of chaos during this pandemic. Starting from the steep increase in Coronavirus cases, we see a big list of negative news of excessive drug use, depression, domestic violence, etc as well these days.
A recent survey by the Indian Psychiatric society stated that there has been an increase in mental health-related cases by 20% post lockdown in India. People are resorting to excessive use of drugs which they call helps them in finding ‘inner peace’. This current period has led to the irreversible development of drug addiction. Drugs, when taken affect mental processes like- perception, consciousness, cognition, mood swings and emotional unbalance.
This pandemic has brought down so many businesses but the world’s cocaine industry has adapted better than many other legitimate businesses. The drug industry has especially gained more profit from huge stores of drug warehoused just before the pandemic and its unbeatable variety of smuggling methods. The trafficking routes closed by the government have been replaced with new ones that even led to door-to-door deliveries. This industry has been capable to be keen on this unaccustomed global lockdown. Statistics show that the street deals of drug trafficking have shot up prices to 30% of the original prices. Presently, as the countries all over the world are partially opening up their several industries for economic earnings, drug smugglers may play the role of being the ‘rulers’ of high-profit businesses.
The rise of cannabis cases all over the world is worth-mentioning. Boredom soon started to creep in and brought with it a long list of lifestyle changes. According to the report of the cannabis industry analytics firm Headset, the pot sales in the United States spiked in mid-March with sales growth peaking at 64% in the week ended March 16- the highest growth rate since the beginning of 2019. The legal sales of cannabis have gone down at present but the illegal smuggling rate is sharply increasing.
It has become really hard to predict what sort of life we are forwarding to owing to this worldwide pandemic. Graphs of banes are subsiding the graphs of boons in several aspects. The spurt in drug abuse not only affects the consumers but also the people associated with the users and society as a whole. The medical and the administration department should join hands and start taking serious steps together to create awareness to control this medical and social issue at hand.
“The drug-induced paradise of ecstasy and hallucination has enslaved the humankind since time memorial, and more and more people are falling victim to the psychedelic pills.”
— Dr. T. P. Chia.
Contributed by Shawgat Ashrafi content writer at Mitti Ke Rang
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