PROBLEM
Srinagar emerging as drug peddling hub
Vulnerable teenagers becoming consumers & carriers
SOLUTION
Early intervention, school-based counselling systems
Schools, parents must understand drug language, digital culture
Srinagar, Jun 16: “Scorpio”, “Ice”, “Gold Star”, “Weed” and “420” may sound like harmless slang or teenage jargon to many parents, but a new research study has revealed that these coded words are increasingly becoming part of Kashmir’s underground drug culture, silently connecting peddlers with school-going children and young addicts across the Valley.
The alarming findings have surfaced in a detailed study conducted by Dr Sameena Wani, presently Principal of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Kothibagh, Srinagar and submitted to DIET Srinagar, which examines the growing causes and manifestations of drug abuse among school children in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the study, drug dealers and users are increasingly relying on coded street names to conceal conversations related to narcotics from families, teachers and law enforcement agencies.
Experts believe this evolving “drug vocabulary” has made the menace more difficult to identify, particularly among teenagers who communicate freely through social media platforms, online chats and peer networks.
The report warns that the Valley’s drug ecosystem is no longer operating in secrecy alone—it is slowly blending into youth culture through slang, coded expressions and online communication patterns that often escape parental scrutiny.
Researchers cited in the study note that drugs are being marketed and discussed among teenagers using terms that sound casual and harmless. The strategy, according to experts, not only protects peddlers from detection but also normalises drug culture among adolescents.
The study further reveals that the age of substance abuse in Kashmir is dropping at an alarming rate, with children as young as 10 to 13 years reportedly getting introduced to cannabis, inhalants and other narcotics through peer groups and neighbourhood networks.
Mental health experts quoted in the report attribute the growing addiction crisis to a mix of peer pressure, emotional distress, unemployment, broken family relationships, conflict-related trauma and increasing exposure to social media and internet culture.
The findings also indicate that many teenagers initially experiment with substances out of curiosity or under pressure from friends before gradually slipping into addiction. ‘In several cases, local grocery shops, acquaintances and informal street networks reportedly become the first points of access to narcotics,” the study reads.
It paints a disturbing picture of changing drug patterns in Kashmir. While cannabis and medicinal opioids earlier dominated the addiction landscape, heroin, brown sugar, synthetic substances and inhalants are now rapidly spreading among youth populations.
Experts cited in the research warn that Srinagar city is increasingly emerging as a hub of drug peddling, where vulnerable teenagers are not only becoming consumers but, in some cases, also turning into carriers and small-time suppliers within their own peer circles.
Dr Wani, through her research, has strongly advocated for early intervention, school-based counselling systems and awareness programmes to counter the menace before it consumes another generation of Kashmir’s youth.
The study stresses that schools, parents and communities must understand the new language, behaviour patterns and digital culture surrounding narcotics if they are to effectively identify vulnerable students and stop the spread of addiction.
The report concludes with a stark warning that Kashmir’s battle against drugs can no longer remain limited to police crackdowns alone, as the menace is now infiltrating language, culture, friendships and the everyday lives of adolescents across the Valley.
