Toke and coke generation

Last week Hindustan Times ran a front-page story on the rampant use of drugs by high school students in Gurgaon and how parents were struggling with this menace. In the past year or so, other dailies have carried similar reports. Often these focus on Gurgaon, although some also speak of Delhi and other cities.

Living in Gurgaon, I am fully aware of this problem even without the news reports. In my nephew's school, one Class XI student lost his life due to a drug overdose. Several students have been suspended - and this is across schools - for possession of drugs in the past few months. Ask any 18- or 19-year-old - make some allowances for exaggeration though - and you will be convinced the problem is more widespread than in our time. I would still argue that cases where children regularly use drugs are more an exception than the norm, but the absolute numbers are undoubtedly on the rise.

The problem is worse in certain cities and at certain campuses. Cities like Pune (with a heavy concentration of colleges) are famous for their drug culture. Various state engineering and medical colleges abound with such examples and I know more than one parent who has refrained from sending their child to these colleges on this ground alone.

Strangely, none of the articles I have seen and collected on the subject ever asks the question why this is happening. So I spoke to a few people to understand why they think this trend is picking up and why more so in particular places. Here's what I gathered.

One, marriages are breaking up far more easily than ever before. Unlike in the past, parents are often in nuclear set-ups. The social fabric that enveloped a child who may be faced with living in a broken home has crumbled. There are no grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins around to soften the blow. When the couple splits up, children spend their time alone (since the single parent usually has to work full time) or with some indifferent house help that changes every few months. So, a child who has in a sense lost one of his parents is also faced with the prospect of dealing with the loss virtually alone.

Parents today want their children to excel whether they themselves excelled or not. It starts with academic expectations but extends to everything the children do. Many students buckle under the pressure of having to constantly perform. To "smoke weed and relax" is an easy escape.

Third, it's cool to smoke weed (this was true in our time too). The with-it lot smokes and the squares don't. The fact that their icons - film stars and rockstars - do it too makes it all the more attractive. Your cool quotient can be determined by what you inhale and how often you do it. They try the lighter stuff for a lark and then find themselves hooked once they have experienced the high. It starts with weed and when weed no longer gives the same buzz, it makes way for the harder drugs.

The difference is in affordability. In our time it was cool but who could afford it? Today, several school and college students receive pocket money that is equivalent to many people's monthly salary.

It is also more acceptable than ever before and parents don't necessarily frown on it. I was aghast when a father of an 18-year-old told me that he grows marijuana in pots at home and sometimes his son and he smoke a reefer together. While he claims that his son is only on the "softer" stuff (hash and grass, as opposed to other more harmful substances), the fact that he was growing it at home showed how acceptable it was to the parents. He said he'd rather his son did it with him than outside.

And last but not the least is accessibility. Tiny paan and cigarette shops stock the softer drugs. Synthetic drugs in the form of pills can even be home delivered. Around Gurgaon schools, peddlers contact the regulars and through the regulars newbies are roped in. If you have the cash, availability is simply not a problem.

anjulibhargava@gmail.com