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DRUGS HAVE TO BE WEEDED OUT OF SYSTEM

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 9/29/2020 10:59:48 AM

Recent news on Drug addiction has shown the darker side of Bollywood. But if we do a research on drug addiction patterns in the country, one can easily find out that drug addiction is not merely related to Bollywood, it is every where in the society and J&K is no exception. In J&K around 90% drug abusers belong to the age group of 17-35. The lot number of youth has turned to drugs who have directly or indirectly affected by the turmoil, but this is not the only reason behind this epidemic because there are other reasons as well, as reported by different studies that have been conducted in the state. Unemployment, relationship problems are naming a few. There are different measures taken by state government to eliminate this curb, including the J&K Police Department running a number of drug De-Addiction centres in the UT. Bollywood has always been linked with almost every kind of addictive, non-addictive, hallucinogenic and psychoactive drugs. Drugs have always been a part of the Bollywood lifestyle. Till 1984, weed, that is cannabis, was legal. Now a ‘crack’ team is ‘weeding’ out current users. In 1979, Mahesh Bhatt admitted that he was into Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) in the aftermath of his relationship with Parveen Babi. Bollywood has been involved with not just non-addictive hallucinogenic drugs, but also other traditional psychoactive drugs, including cannabis and bhang. Bhatt’s frequent collaborator Sanjay Dutt, who was also into drugs, was arrested and went into rehabilitation as did Fardeen Khan and a few others. Interestingly, many other films of the recent past starring mainstream actors are also in the eye of the drugs-storm. These include the major hit Udta Punjab, starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, and produced by Madhu Mantena whose talent management agency Kwan is in the wrong kind of news nowadays. Incidentally, the law now states that anyone who contravenes the NDPS Act will face punishment based on the quantity of the banned substance. Where the contravention involves a quantity less than one kilogram, the punishment is rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months, or with fine which may extend to Rs 10,000 or with both. So even if the stars are found guilty, they may well be let off with a fine of Rs 10,000, perhaps less than what they spend for the contraband. As a matter of fact, drug abuse has to be eradicated from the society, it hardly matters whether it is Bollywood, or common society, we all want a clean society in which the youth of county could breathe in fresh air.