As Kashmir's Addiction Crisis Deepens, Can the Pulpit Succeed Where Policy Has Fallen Short?

It has taken far too long, but now, clerics drawn from both the Shia and Sunni traditions across Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have finally chosen to confront one of the Valley's most devastating social crises, the relentless rise of drug addiction. For years, the issue simmered beneath the surface, discussed in government reports, academic studies and occasional awareness campaigns, while communities watched helplessly as addiction spread through towns and villages.

The initiative is significant precisely not just because it arrives after years of relative silence but also because mosques and pulpits in Kashmir command a moral authority that extends far beyond religious instruction. Their reach penetrates communities where state interventions often struggle and where social stigma frequently prevents families from openly discussing addiction and mental health challenges.

Meeting under the banner of the Muttahida Majlis Ulema (MMU), headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the religious scholars now intend to address these concerns directly, reflecting a growing recognition that the crisis can no longer be left solely to governments, police agencies or periodic seminars.

The urgency

The urgency of such intervention becomes evident when one examines the scale of the problem. Over the last decade, a substantial body of research has emerged attempting to explain the growing prevalence of substance abuse in Kashmir. Although heroin and opioid addiction remain the most visible manifestations of the crisis, cannabis, pharmaceutical drugs morphine, oxycodone, fentanyl and various synthetic substances have also become part of a rapidly expanding narcotics landscape. Consequently, prevention and rehabilitation strategies cannot afford to focus on a single substance alone.

Some of the most frequently cited statistics continue to originate from studies conducted several years ago, highlighting a troubling gap in updated data. The National Institute on Drug Abuse survey conducted in Kashmir in 2022 estimated that more than 52,000 individuals were addicted to opioids, with over 32,000 injecting drugs. Similarly, findings from the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), Srinagar, suggested that heroin accounted for the overwhelming majority of substance dependence cases in the Valley. A parliamentary committee report submitted in 2023 painted an even grimmer picture by estimating that nearly 13.5 lakh people in J&K consumed drugs.

Yet these figures may no longer capture the full dimensions of the crisis. No comprehensive survey has been undertaken since then to establish the current extent of addiction, despite widespread acknowledgement that the problem has continued to grow. News reports periodically highlight teenagers trapped in heroin dependency, families struggling with opioid abuse, and increasing misuse of prescription medications. However, the absence of updated data has created a situation in which policymakers, researchers and communities are attempting to respond to an evolving epidemic without fully understanding its present scale.

In response to a parliamentary question regarding substance abuse in Jammu and Kashmir, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment reported a steady rise in the number of individuals receiving treatment through government-supported facilities. The number increased from 27,843 in 2022-23 to 36,588 in 2023-24, rose further to 40,546 in 2024-25, and reached 46,491 in 2025-26. On the surface, these figures suggest expanding access to treatment and growing public willingness to seek professional help. But they also indicate that the demand for addiction services continues to rise despite years of anti-drug initiatives and enforcement measures.

This complexity is often lost amid official campaigns such as Nasha Mukt Bharat and various awareness drives aimed at students and youth. While these programmes have succeeded in promoting public discussion and encouraging pledges against substance abuse, the expanding treatment caseload suggests that addiction itself remains resistant to symbolic gestures.

Indeed, the challenge extends beyond prevention to questions of treatment effectiveness. Jammu and Kashmir currently hosts Integrated Rehabilitation Centres for Addicts, outreach facilities, peer-led intervention programmes, district de-addiction centres and specialised addiction treatment facilities. Yet relapse rates remain stubbornly high. Medicines such as Buprenorphine and Vernor-N, prescribed as part of medically assisted treatment, are designed to reduce cravings and facilitate recovery. However, reports indicate that the majority of young patients misuse these medications, crushing and injecting them or consuming them in excessive quantities. The result has not been sustained recovery but a painful cycle of dependency, treatment and  relapse.

Concerns have also emerged regarding the quality of services in several private rehabilitation facilities. Inspections have identified shortcomings ranging from inadequate counselling to the absence of recreational opportunities that could assist long-term recovery.

The deeper drivers of the epidemic are equally apparent. Research consistently identifies peer pressure, unemployment, emotional distress and social alienation as major pathways into substance use.

At the same time, narcotics continue to flow into the region despite intensified enforcement. Between 2020 and 2024, security agencies seized narcotics valued at approximately Rs 1,000 crore. Yet major trafficking networks remain largely invisible. Arrests frequently target couriers and street-level operatives, while the financial and organisational structures sustaining the trade continue to evade exposure. The persistence of known trafficking corridors despite extensive surveillance raises uncomfortable questions about how such networks continue to operate.

Multiple causes

Equally problematic is the tendency to explain Kashmir's addiction crisis primarily through the lens of militancy and conflict. While prolonged instability undoubtedly contributes to psychological vulnerability, addiction rarely emerges from a single cause. Public health and psychiatric research consistently demonstrates that substance dependence usually develops through a combination of emotional trauma, economic uncertainty, social fragmentation, family pressures and inadequate mental health support. Reducing the crisis to any one factor risks overlooking the complex realities experienced by those most vulnerable to addiction.

Against this backdrop wherein addiction has continued to spread despite seizures, crackdowns, awareness programmes and expanding treatment infrastructure, Kashmir's religious leadership is stepping into a space it long neglected.

If clerics can move beyond a simple prohibitionist discourse and instead foster faith-sensitive, psychologically informed and community-based interventions, they may help reconstruct precisely those bonds of belonging and moral responsibility that addiction so often destroys. In a society searching for answers to a crisis that has steadily compounded despite countless interventions, that possibility offers a measure of hope.

Vaishali Basu Sharma is a strategic and economic affairs analyst.

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