Drugs, teenage crime and the society by Randeep Wadehra

The menace of drug addiction cannot be over emphasized. What had started as a fad amongst the well healed is now a staple for the poor, and an indispensable means of killing time amongst teenagers. Teenage crime and the rising domestic violence can be directly linked to drugs. India has become one of the most favored transit routes for drug traffickers. This has resulted in the rather easy availability of hard drugs both in our cities and the countryside.

Sometime back, at Patiala, I came across a youth who is typical of our neo-rich drug addicts. He has plenty of pocket money at his disposal with no compulsion for accounting to anybody regarding its disposal. At an age when kids normally find life wonderful and thrilling he has already become bored with such mundane activities like school going, sports and ‘silly hobbies’. Let us call him Tubby. His father is employed in a multinational company in Saudi Arabia while his mother is a regular at kitty parties.

Tubby was packed off to an expensive school in New Delhi. During the impressionable age an adolescent needs parental guidance the most. Any carelessness on the parents’ part could lead to disastrous consequences. He began drifting into bad company.

He had his first smoke at sixteen, courtesy one of his filthy rich classmates. Tubby joined the kids who smoked marijuana, gambled and generally wasted their time, energy and money. Thanks to his father’s liberal attitude, Tubby could afford all these 'fashionable' dos. It was not long before Tubby was on to the hard drugs like heroin, brown sugar and later on smack.

“That was the turning point when the real problem started.” Recounts Tubby ruefully, “despite the liberal allowance I started falling short of money. That’s when I committed my first theft. We, that is my roommates, and I unbolted the wheels of a parked Mercedes Benz and sold them off in the chor bazaar for a pittance. Since we did not get caught we felt emboldened to try more daring escapades.”

Theft became a child’s play for Tubby and his gang. Soon they attempted a highway robbery on the Delhi-UP border. Their fluent English, ‘sophisticated’ manners and cherubic looks helped them ensnare their victims and escape the police. However, nemesis caught up with them soon enough. Their hostel warden was already suspicious about their nocturnal activities. Their class teachers too started reporting against their increasing indiscipline, bordering on violence.

“In fact it was my room mate who betrayed us. He was a coward, who believed in a bland life.” There was a tinge of contempt in Tubby’s voice, “Fearing that he too might have to face the consequences of our actions he revealed the details of our activities to the warden. One night there was a surprise police raid and we were all nabbed. We had loads of the stuff in our cupboards, there was no way we could bluff our way out of the trouble.”

After a stint in the reformatory his parents brought Tubby home. Now he is a regular at a de-addiction center in Patiala. He does not seem very repentant. I ask, “Tubby, after you get rid of this habit what do you intend to do?” The kid looks at me, gives an elaborate shrug and remarks wryly, “I don’t know. Dad will go back to Saudi Arabia to earn more lucre, ma will return to her kitty parties and I…” he lets the answer hanging in mid air.

This problem is not Tubby’s alone. Our society is in a state of flux. The joint family system, with all its drawbacks did have its plus points. It provided emotional security to the impressionable and vulnerable kids. Today the rat race up the corporate ladder, the get-rich-quick culture and the fast disappearing traditional family structure is extracting a price that may well prove to be our undoing as a society.