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The number of incidents of juvenile crime in the north Kashmir district of Bandipora is growing, according to a report in Rising Kashmir. Many of these incidents are the result of the increasing addiction to drugs, stimulants, narcotics, tobacco products and inhalants among those aged nine to 19 years.

Locals claim the state has failed to make adequate arrangements to engage youth in healthy activities and now, cases of petty theft mostly involving teenagers are a common feature.

This report featured Muzaffer Ahmed, a 19-year-old beggar living in Ongam village who said he and 12 other children get inhalants and cough syrups from near the bus stand. After he was arrested, Ahmed said the youth can beg for hours after getting a dose of any inhalant or Charas.

One social worker, Muhammad Ramzan Shaida, said in Rising Kashmir : “It is shocking to find school going children from affluent families getting hooked to narcotics, analgesics, stimulants, depressants and cannabis. Far more surprising is the easy availability of these products among schoolchildren.”

Noted scholar and poet Abdur Rashid Nazki said that while it was unheard of only a few years ago, thefts of items from shops and breaking into markets is now a routine. Unemployment is causing youth to turn to drug addiction.

Nazki is urging the government to develop a plan to curb the growing problem of drug addiction among youth. According to District Development Commissioner Bandipora, Muhammad Sharief Saud, the district has 18,916 unemployed and educated youth who – in the absence of employment opportunities – turn to drugs.

The Kashmir Environmental Protection Coordination Organization conducted a sample survey, which found that 12 percent of the population between the ages of 15 to 45 was involved in drug abuse and trafficking. Of the 20 youth arrested in one month in connection with thefts, police say all 20 are involved with drugs as peddlers.