SURAT: A doctor found a packet of weed in a young man’s pocket who was being treated for psychiatric
disorder in the city. The young man, who is a student of a local college, told the doctor that most students in his class are addicted to it.
Dr Mukul Choksi, a psychiatrist, said, “I get two cases in a month of youngsters addicted to marijuana. For them, it is normal because they see many people in the world addicted to it. I also have had cases where parents asked police to punish their delinquent children, but are not ready to lodge any complaint for whatever reason.”
Weed doesn’t qualify as hardcore drug and hence government has no rehabilitation policy for addicts even when addiction of young people to marijuana and cannabis can ruin not only them but even next generation. Indian Journal of Psychiatry had put the figure of soft addicts to around 4 per cent of the population and expressed alarm over their rising number, sources said.
Dr Kamlesh Dave, psychiatrist, said, “Younger generation becomes addicted to marijuana because it is easily available and they are vulnerable. Smoking is a gateway to not only marijuana but other such substances too. The youngsters in the age group of 17 to 25 seem to have lot of money to spare.”
There is no ban on weed in 29 out of 50 states of the United States of America. A person can get it on doctor’s prescription and in nine states of the USA, you don’t even need that.
“When the youngsters see that weed is not banned in the USA, they ask why should it be in India? But, they don’t understand how the USA society is suffering from it? For youngsters smoking weed is fashion and it gives them thrill. We need to guard against the fantasies of the youth and not succumb to demand to legalize it,” said Dr Mahesh Desai, another psychiatrist of the city.
He said smoking percentage among youth in the city is coming down a bit, but the fad of weed smoking is around four per cent already. This would not take much time to double, he added.
