Boy, 8, addict: New low for Delhi’s drug menace

The first-of-its-kind survey, whose report Hindustan Times has accessed, was conducted by 80 child psychologists-cum-counsellors in areas such as Seemapuri, Trilokpuri, Nand Nagri, Jaffrabad, Kalyanpuri and Kondli among students in Classes 3 to 5.

One in six students aged between eight and 11 in east Delhi’s municipal schools are addicted to substances ranging from alcohol and tobacco to industrial glue and injectable drugs, a survey conducted by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has found, an indication of how flagrantly the laws are violated by peddlers seeking to turn young children into hard-core addicts.

Syringes, drug vials and e-hookahs found in school premises and from students at EDMC schools.(HT Photo)

The first-of-its-kind survey, whose report Hindustan Times has accessed, was conducted by 80 child psychologists-cum-counsellors in areas such as Seemapuri, Trilokpuri, Nand Nagri, Jaffrabad, Kalyanpuri and Kondli among students in Classes 3 to 5.

The exercise was carried out from July 2018 to March this year on the orders of the Delhi High Court’s Juvenile Justice Committee, and will be repeated annually.

The report found 12,627, or roughly 16.8% of 75,037 students across 368 schools are using substances. Of this, 8,182 students were found using supari (betel nuts) mixed with dried opium shells; 2,613 students chewed tobacco; 1,410 students smoked beedis and cigarettes; 231 consumed alcohol; and 191 used inhalants such as fluid, petrol, sulochan (an industrial glue) and injectable drugs.

“We saw many disturbing things but the worst was dozens of used syringes with bloodied needles, tablets and vials of anti-allergic drug ‘Avil’ and sedative ‘Mephentine’ scattered in school premises and bags of students,” said Dr Ajay Lekhi, EDMC deputy health officer (schools), who led the team.

“Prescription drugs such as Avil and Mephentine — which cannot legally be sold over the counter but are often handed out by unscrupulous chemists to children for just Rs 5 to Rs 25 per injection — help push students into hard-core drug use,” he added.

Counsellors -- technically called EVGCs (Emotional Vocational Guidance Counsellors) -- were also shocked to find certain curious items -- pens shaped like syringes with even milliliter markings, and jelly sticks packaged like cigarettes and lighters in the possession of students.

All such products – which were harmless by themselves – were brightly coloured and bore images of animals or cartoon characters such as Ben 10 to attract children. When the team tried to contact the manufacturers using the labels that mentioned Haryana’s Yamuna Nagar or UP’s Ghaziabad as their factory locations, they turned out to be fake.

“Why should pens or candies be shaped like syringes unless someone wants to initiate young minds into the world of injectable drugs?” he asked.

Two departments of the EDMC -- Public Health and Education -- held this “screening exercise” on certain orders passed by the Delhi High Court in 2012. The court had found many pre-teens landing in observation homes with a history of drug abuse and asked municipalities to check at its primary schools.

After a long debate over the profile and qualifications of the EVGCs/psychological counselors to be hired, they were finally taken on board in July 2018. While the east MCD submitted its report to the Juvenile Justice Committee in May this year, the north and south corporations are still preparing the same.

The east MCD has the least number of schools of the three corporations -- only 351 with 1.71 lakh students -- but because of the low socio-economic profile of this area, drug abuse among kids is rampant,” said a senior education department officer with EDMC, who did not wish to be named.

While the north MCD has 714 schools with 2.96 lakh students, the south MCD has 581 schools with 2.38 lakh students.

“Many kids come to our schools from villages and slums who might be orphans or abused at home, and take these drugs to get over the mental agony. Many of them are initiated into substance abuse by their classmates or senior students. The role of chemists and peddlers has also been noted,” he said.

Doctors and experts heading drug de-addiction centres explained how substance abuse is destroying young lives. “Inhalants like sulochan are a huge problem. Their main ingredient, toluene, does not have a treatment or replacement therapy. It impacts brain function and is dangerous for adolescent brains,” said Dr Nimesh Desai, director of the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS).

Among substance abusers, toluene is known to cause leukoencephalopathy or disease of the brain white matter, medical experts said.

“There is also the problem of addicted children sharing needles. I have seen so many such children contract HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and die from it,” said Rajesh Kumar, executive director of the NGO Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses, which runs three de-addiction centres for children at Delhi Gate, Kingsway Camp and Daryaganj.

The counsellors, who regularly visited EDMC schools to interact with students, said it took a lot of patience to get the children to open up. “First we would hold painting sessions among them, with one of the topics as ‘drug abuse.’ Then we would hold ‘health talks’ and dental check-ups [a way of ascertaining drug abuse]. We would also show them animation films on the painful life of addicts to get them talking,” said Deepak Sharma, a 28-year-old counsellor.

He recalled a painting made by a 10-year-old boy: A bottle of whisky with a premium brand name on it; a glass next to it proportionately filled with ice and water; and a slogan below it saying, “Peene ke baad, peene wale ki koi zimmedari nahi hoti [after drinking, the drinker bears no responsibility].”

“We were shocked to see his level of knowledge on this,” Sharma said.

Another counsellor, Mahima Mishra, said while most children were still innocent, some had become hardened over time. “The younger ones would even secretly inform us if a classmate got an e-hookah to school, but some of the elder ones saw us as a threat. A boy told one of our seniors when rebuked for taking drugs, ‘Mera ustad tumhein uda dega [my boss will kill you],” she said.

A Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) officer assisting Lekhi’s team for the past two years said there are several laws to stop drugs from reaching the hands of minors but they are implemented poorly.

“The city government’s drug inspectors are supposed to inspect chemist shops routinely for sale of medicines to minors. But Delhi has only 17 drug inspectors for 23,000 pharmacies. Even if a chemist is caught selling Scheduled Drugs to juveniles, they only suspend or cancel his license and not book them under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, Section 18 and 27, which would send them to jail for one-two years at least,” the officer said, requesting anonymity.

Similarly, paan shops selling tobacco, beedis and cigarettes are set up within 100 metres of schools, flagrantly violating the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 that bars any such establishment within such a distance of educational institutions; liquor vends also operate within 100 metres of schools, in contravention of the Delhi Excise Rules, 2009.

“The Delhi government also banned the sale of correction fluids, whiteners, thinners and vulcanized solutions to children below 18, in August 2017, unless they are accompanied by an adult or have a permission letter from school. Such laws must be enforced on the ground and not just limited to paper,” said Anant Asthana, a lawyer specialising in child rights.

Deputy commissioner of police (East) Jasmeet Singh, who has been working with Dr Lekhi’s team for the past few months, said he is working to address the problem.

“I have been holding meetings with our ACPs [assistant commissioner of police] and SHOs [station house officer] to ensure that no suspicious elements are wandering around schools and children are not wandering around chemist shops. We are also identifying parks and isolated places where drug peddlers gather and sensitising our beat constables on the new laws regarding this subject and how investigation is to be done in these cases.”

Curbing substance abuse itself can lead to a significant drop in the city’s crime rate, he added.