Srinagar, April 22 -- ByDr. Harjeet Singh

Something is hollowed out in the homes of Kashmir. Parents know it before they name it. A son stops coming home for dinner, and a daughter borrows money she cannot explain. The furniture stays the same, the tea still brews at four, but the center of the house has gone missing.

This is the texture of Jammu and Kashmir's drug crisis, and it is far more intimate than any statistic can capture.

The numbers, however, demand attention.

Parliament was told this year that over thirteen lakh people in Jammu and Kashmir use addictive substances, with opioids leading every category. More than thirty-two thousand drug-related cases have been registered since 2022.

These figures show a social reality that...